Chambria Mack was born and raised in the north side of Flint and has been involved in community organizations and church groups within Flint her whole life.
She now works as an interviewer and data collector for the Flint Registry, a public health project that helps get those affected by the Flint water crisis connected to health and wellness resources.
The job at the Registry just happened to be the perfect fit for Chambria.
Before working for the Registry, Chambria’s career was in finance. She shifted gears because she wanted to work in the public health sector, which is close to her heart because of her passion for advocating for Flint, and because of her love for her daughters.
The mother of two children, 5 and 6 years old, Chambria’s first was born when she was only 22 weeks pregnant.
Aptly named Miracle, she weighed less than a pound at birth and spent four and a half months in the NICU, but she survived.
“Long story short, she’s 6 now and the child that had a two percent chance, she’s reading at a second-grade level, she’s very active, she’s very smart and she has no health issues…I always tell people, ‘she named herself,’” Chambria said.
Miracle was born and treated at Hurley Children’s Hospital, and Chambria has maintained a relationship with the hospital ever since, using her voice to advocate for the hospital.
“Mainly right now, especially since I am a mother of a miracle child, a lot of my community activity has gone to Hurley Children’s Hospital,” she said.
The Flint Registry is under the umbrella of the Pediatric Public Health Initiative (PPHI), a partnership between Hurley and Michigan State University, so Chambria’s activism and passion coincides with her career.
“That was another great part of it because we partner with Hurley Children’s Hospital… it’s just like everything came full circle for me with the Hurley part, with the finance piece and the social sector part. It just all worked out,” she said.
Though she started her job at the Registry as a survey interviewer, she mostly works with getting thank-you checks out to people now.
“I started off doing interviews with participants and then supervisors saw that I had the finance background so then I kind of maneuvered on to checks. So, it’s kind of like I have the best of both worlds,” she said.
Getting the thank-you checks out to those who have completed the Flint Registry survey is a process, which can be frustrating for those waiting on their check, as well as for those trying to get the checks sent out.
“The process is pretty extensive. A lot of people think that we have the money right in the building or the checks right in the building, but we don’t. Being that we are a part of MSU college, everything comes from Lansing,” she said.
However, she doesn’t let this hinder her; her main goal is to make the process quicker and smoother, so people can get their checks sooner. She said she and the rest of the team that works on getting checks sent out want to accomplish the task as efficiently as possible.
“We’re really working on it. I will say this, it’s faster than it was a month ago, it’s faster than it was last week, so it’s always progressing,” she said.
When Chambria gets to help someone, she says it makes her job rewarding.
“For me, I love it when I can speak to a participant and they’re happy with what we’ve done. Whether it be, ‘I received my check’ or, ‘I was connected to services’ or, ‘somebody just listened to me, thank you for listening to me,’” she said.
As for her goals for the Flint community as a whole, Chambria wants to continue to be a part of healing Flint from the water crisis.
“I would love to see us get past this water crisis and be on the other side of it,” she said.
She is hopeful that this goal can be attained, especially because of the way Flint handled the protests that began after the death of George Floyd.
“When the rest of the world is in such disarray and to watch Flint kind of be a shining light to it being done peacefully gives me hope that we can get to the other side. We can come together and get to the other side of the water crisis,” Chambria said.
The strides the Flint Registry has taken the last couple of years also give her hope. The project continues to grow alongside and in collaboration with the Flint community.
“That’s the good thing about this project, it’s steady improving. It’s not declining,” she said.