The White House announced Wednesday that President Obama will travel to Flint, Michigan, on Wednesday, May 4 to hear residents' accounts of the lead-contamination water crisis and to get an "in-person briefing on the federal efforts" that are in place to aid the community's recovery. Obama is also slated to deliver remarks to the Flint community.
The White House says that Obama decided to make the trip after he got an email from 8-year-old Mari Copeny, who is known as "Little Miss Flint," asking to meet with him last month when she attended the congressional hearings on the crisis. "Letters from kids like you are what makes me so optimistic for the future," Obama wrote in a letter dated Monday.
This will mark Obama's first visit to Flint since its water became contaminated with dangerously high levels of lead after the city, under a state-appointed emergency manager, switched water sources to save money.