Detroiter – by way of Flint, MI – Norrel Hemphill, Esq. is an environmental and civil rights attorney serving as the Legal and Public Policy Manager at We the People of Detroit. Attorney Hemphill advocates for water rights, water justice, and environmental justice at every level of government – local, state, federal, and international.
Her work centers the experiences, solutions, and genius of most-impacted communities, those who historically suffered and continue to suffer from harm caused by systemic and environmental injustices. She has collaborated with other Community members to safeguard residents and enhance local water assistance programs, recommended programmatic improvements for the federal Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program in a statewide workgroup, worked in coalition with Community members to advocate for more LIHWAP dollars – leading to a half-billion-dollar appropriation to LIHWAP in 2023, drafted policies and laws to protect water rights, and more.
Attorney Hemphill serves as a steward for Community. She lifts the lived experience of Detroiters at various local and national cohorts, coalitions, task forces, et cetera. She also serves on the frontlines with We the People of Detroit’s Water PEEPs (Water Policy, Education, and Engagement Program), helping Community members navigate complicated public health and quality of life issues and other concerns – especially regarding water.
Norrel blends her erudite legal acumen with her lived experience to advocate for the codification of the human right to water, ensuring that low-income residents in Detroit throughout Michigan and across the United States of America always have uninterrupted access to safe, clean, and affordable drinking water. Attorney Hemphill is a graduate of Michigan State University and Thomas M. Cooley Law School. She is a past Equal Justice Works Fellow, AmeriCorps alumna, and past legal intern with We the People of Detroit. Norrel proudly calls Detroit home, where she immerses herself in culturally rooted activities while raising her brilliant and remarkable daughter.