Nonprofits in Jackson, Miss., are distributing bottled water, food, and cleaning supplies to residents as they struggle with a crisis that has left the majority-Black capital city of 160,000 without a reliable water source since late August.
Historic amounts of rain led to flooding of the Pearl River in Jackson, affecting the city’s main water-treatment facility and causing a multi-day water outage.
The United Way of the Capital Area and grassroots coalitions are drawing on their past experiences to meet immediate needs of residents in the state’s capital, for whom unreliable water has been a longstanding challenge. Donations of bottled water, many from corporations, are coming in by the truckload, while gifts of cash are trickling in more slowly.
Like Flint, Mich., and Baltimore, two other cities with predominantly Black populations dealing with safe drinking-water issues, Jackson’s challenges have been years in the making.
Jackson’s tax base has eroded over the past few decades as the population has decreased, the result of primarily white flight to suburbs that began about a decade after public schools integrated in 1970. Today the city is more than 80 percent Black, and 25 percent of its residents live in poverty, according to an Associated Press report. The years of water problems left nonprofits and grant makers with the challenge of not only meeting immediate needs but also finding long-term solutions.
The Mississippi Rapid Response Coalition, made up of more than 30 nonprofits and grassroots organizations, is one of the main groups working to distribute water and supplies. The coalition, which was created at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, delivered water to residents during previous natural disasters in Jackson. That has made it well equipped to coordinate supplies, distribution, and volunteers now. The coalition is trying to raise at least $2 million to purchase water, water filters, reusable water containers, and other supplies. So far, it has raised nearly half a million dollars, according to Nsombi Lambright, executive director of One Voice, which is part of the coalition.
Even as the first floor of its office flooded and the roof leaked from the torrential rains, staff at Jackson’s United Way sprang to action. Before the state or federal government declared a state of emergency, their staff quickly worked to secure donations, mainly from corporations. In the past two weeks the organization has raised $110,000, said Nikki McCelleis, interim CEO.
JPMorgan Chase has been among the largest early donors to United Way, committing $20,000. So far, United Way has distributed about 170,000 bottles of water to residents.
The charity gave $25,000 and 20 pallets of water to Jackson State University, one of four universities in the area. Students have been going to YMCAs and hotels in neighboring cities to shower or attend classes virtually.
While truckloads of water are coming in, people also need prepared food and cleaning supplies, McCelleis said. United Way hopes to provide water and cleaning supplies for an additional 800 to 1,000 people at a distribution drive this week. They’re working with the YMCA to distribute meals next week.
The Center for Disaster Philanthropy, which is tracking donor response to the crisis, has seen a surge in contributions of bottled water but few financial investments to date, Regine Webster, the group’s vice president said.
Bottled water is a “necessary but fleeting fix,” Webster wrote in an email. It’s still too early to gauge the magnitude of the region’s long-term needs, she said, but the crisis in Jackson and continuing challenges in communities like Flint serve as “a stark warning of what’s to come.”
Ultimately, the success or failure of the response in Jackson will depend on the efforts of the state and federal governments, she said, but foundations and donors should also exert their influence to push for systemic changes that ensure vulnerable communities have safe and reliable access to drinking water.
Lessons From Other Crises
Jackson is not unique in dealing with the challenges of failing water infrastructure. Organizations in other regions with experience responding to similar crises are finding ways to support residents in Mississippi’s capital.
McCelleis, who is just a few months into her role as interim CEO, heard from her counterpart at the United Way of Genesee County, which serves Flint, Mich. — a city still recovering from its own water crisis.
Jamie Gaskin, who leads the Flint United Way, said he spoke with McCelleis by phone and encouraged her team to work with local nonprofits and foundations rather than compete for resources. He said he also counseled her to begin planning for the long-term recovery in addition to meeting immediate needs for people, businesses, and nonprofits.
Many local nonprofits are understandably focused on today’s needs, McCelleis said, “but many of those organizations are not thinking about what other needs there may be in the future.”
That’s the message she’s continuing to send to donors as she appeals for more financial support.
One member of the Mississippi Rapid Response Coalition, the Immigrant Alliance for Justice and Equity, raised about $30,000 largely from local donors in the early days of the crisis. The nonprofit’s founder and director Lorena Quiroz has since heard from grant makers such as the Southern Partners Fund offering awards of $2,000 to $10,000.
The additional funding has enabled the alliance to get forklifts and trucks to deliver large pallets of water. The nonprofit has also been raising money to support families whose homes were devastated by the flooding last month, while also working to educate immigrants about the water crisis and where to get support.
Meanwhile, the coalition has supplied the nonprofit with most of the water it has distributed. The coalition, along with students from local colleges, has also been vital for volunteering at its sites, according to Quiroz.
The Community Foundation for Mississippi tapped its existing disaster-relief fund, which in the past has been used to respond to tornadoes and other natural disasters in counties neighboring Jackson. The foundation has raised nearly $20,000 in five days from 193 donors in response to this water crisis. In addition, it has received commitments from Starbucks and Microsoft totaling $100,000.
The foundation is finalizing a plan to distribute rapid-response grants and is awarding $500 and $1,000 apiece to reimburse nonprofits’ for the extra expense of buying water and other beverages.
Jane Alexander, CEO of the community foundation, said she is also searching for potential long-term strategies to ensure Jackson is better prepared for future emergencies limiting water access. For example, philanthropic dollars could be used to purchase tools that allow school air conditioners to continue running even if water pressure falls or to help train and retain water-treatment plant workers.
“Hopefully we can be a conduit for this information to larger philanthropy, to say what are some of the things that might help more systemically and not just this immediate thing, which is important,” she said.
Nonprofit leaders know they’ll need to be in it for the long haul.
“This is not an overnight fix,” said McCelleis, with United Way. “It took 30 years for our water infrastructure to get the way it is currently, and it may take years for us to get it fixed. We really don’t know when there’s an end in sight.”
Residents were already under a boil-water notice in the month leading up to the flood. While water pressure has mostly been restored, the boil notice remains in place.
A similar crisis occurred last year, when winter storms caused pipes to freeze and burst, leaving thousands of residents without water. And in 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency warned that the city’s drinking water could be exposing residents to harmful contaminants.
“Growing up, we always knew not to drink the water in Jackson,” McCelleis said. “It had been bad; it just had not been bad enough for the government to finally do something about the issue.”
