Due to extenuating circumstances, the “New Bedford Lyceum: Mari Copeny” program will be rescheduled for a later date. Stay tuned for more information.
Ticket holders will receive automatic refunds. For questions, please contact Joclyne Nunes, Manager of Public Programs at JNunes@whalingmuseum.org
New Bedford Lyceum Presents Mari Copeny
Mari Copeny: Discussing Youth Activism, Equal Opportunity, and Implementing Change
Thursday, June 23
In-person and on Zoom.
Advance registration is required.
Reception - 6:00 p.m. - 6:30pm EST
Lecture - 6:30 p.m. - 7:30pm EST
Local Panel Discussion - 7:30 - 8:00pm EST
In-Person
General Admission $25
Youth Rate (Under age 18) $7
Virtual via Zoom
General Admission $7
Join the New Bedford Whaling Museum and the New Bedford Lyceum in welcoming Amariyanna “Mari” Copeny, 15 year-old activist, philanthropist, and “future president,” as she discusses her role in helping youth become engaged within their communities. Mari will speak about her experience as a leading youth activist, detail ways we all can encourage our youth, and how we can implement change and activism within our own communities.
With the Flint water crisis on her resume as one of her leading advocacy works, Mari will speak to the injustices of clean water equity and how she has used her voice to combat this critical issue that affects the overall health of her community and our nation.
During this hour-long discussion, we'll explore how communities like our own can relate to the need for clean water access in our backyards and for our neighbors throughout the world.
As Mari states, “My generation will fix this mess of a government. Watch us.”
Moderator
Rayana Grace (she/her)
Program Officer, Island Foundation
Local Panelists
Leimary Llopiz (she/her/ella)
Advocacy Coordinator
YWCA Southeastern Massachusetts
Juliana Melara Recinos & Janice DaCosta
12th Grade, New Bedford High School
NBWM High School Apprentice
Victoria Grasela, MPA
VP of Marketing and Community Engagement
United Way of Greater New Bedford
Daishaly Rodriguez
Student, Our Sisters’ School
About the Lyceum
Established in 1858, the New Bedford Lyceum represents a centuries-old New England tradition of learning through intellectual debate. A local panel of youth activists and community stakeholders will discuss ways in which we can put forth action for change in a variety of ways within our community.
About the Speaker
Amariyanna “Mari” Copeny is most well known as “Little Miss Flint” - she first gained national attention in 2016, when at the age of 8, the LA Times published a letter she wrote to President Obama challenging him to visit Flint, Michigan. The letter sparked an urgent dialogue around the clean water crisis and environmental racism that is impossible to ignore, ultimately leading to meetings with Presidents Obama and Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and spotlights by TIME Magazine, The Washington Post, NBC News, and VICE.
In the wake of her note to Obama, her work in the community and successful crowdfunding campaigns have allowed her to distribute over 1M bottles of water to Flint residents, raise over $500K for her ‘Flint Kids’ projects to place thousands of books into the hands of local children, and distribute backpacks filled with supplies to school-age youth. She‘s partnered with water filter company Hydroviv to donate and distribute high-capacity lead removal filters to families and child-centric organizations in Flint.
Mari was named to the U.S. Delegation to the 65th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. She is the youngest delegate ever selected to the UN Commission. She’s also a Youth Ambassador to the Women’s March on Washington and the National Climate March, sits on the board of directors for Kid Box, and is an active member of 18 x Eighteen, an initiative to get young people to vote once they turn 18. In 2019, she received the Shorty Award in Activism.
