The Department of African American Studies honors Amariyanna "Mari" Copeny (born July 6, 2007), also known as Little Miss Flint, who is a youth activist and philanthropist from Flint, Michigan. 

Since her early childhood, Copeny, 14, has dedicated her life raising awareness about the Flint water crisis and fundraising to support underprivileged children in her community and country-wide. 

According to her website, she raised over $600,000 for Flint Kid projects, including "Back to School" backpacks with supplies, easter baskets, movie screenings, and holiday toy donations. Copeny raised over $250,000 and provided over a million cases of bottled water.  Now, she has a partnership with Hydroviv that raised over $600 thousand dollars to produce and distribute her own water filter.

One of her greatest impacts involve her advocacy which convinced former President Barack Obama to enforce an emergency declaration for federal aid to the emergency water safety conditions including water, water filters, water filter cartridges, water test kits, and other forms of aid.