FLINT, MI -- Backers of a new federally funded registry are asking anyone who was exposed to Flint water during the city's water crisis to pre-enroll in the program and are promising a direct connection to programs and services designed to minimize the effect of lead.

"This is a project that has Flint residents, Flint parents (and) Flint children involved from the very onset ... This is being built with a partnership ...," said Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, associate professor at Michigan State University's College of Human Medicine.

Flint Registry pre-enrollment gives anyone exposed to Flint water from April 2014 until October 2015 -- an estimated 150,000 people -- a head start on a full enrollment process that's expected to be fully operational in September.

MSU received $3.2 million, the first installment of a four-year, $14.4-million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in August to develop the registry.

It announced the launch of the pre-enrollment at www.flintregistry.org during a news conference Monday, Jan. 22.

The registry is voluntary and will link registrants' data on exposure, health and childhood development milestones with their participation in services through a referral network, according to a fact sheet from MSU. People of all ages can register, including non-Flint residents who worked or went to school or daycare in the city.

"The pre-enrollment is just a way to express your interest (and) an opportunity to share your opinions -- tell us what you want us to do," Hanna-Attisha said.

Mayor Karen Weaver called the program "a great resource for the people of the city of Flint," and said it will require trust that organizers are working to earn.

"When we hear the word registry, I know sometimes people are hesitant about that and they have questions or reservations, but I think that the lead exposure register is going to be good ...," Weaver said.

"It's going to be our way of connecting with the resources and services available. We don't want anyone to say we fought for these resources, and people are not using them and taking advantage of them."

Through the registry, registrants can be referred to programs such as those that provide health care or nutritious food.

Hanna-Attisha, the pediatrician who studied the blood lead levels of infants and small children in Flint during the water crisis, said it's important to start pre-enrollment now so that people can build up trust.

"It's going to take a long time to rebuild that trust, and I understand where they are coming from," she said. "They have every reason to be angry and to not trust what anyone is doing because the city of Flint and its residents were betrayed ... by every single agency at every level of government that was supposed to protect them."

Organizers are hoping residents like Marie Herrin, a Flint mother, will submit their name and contact information to receive updates on when the formal enrollment begins this fall.

"I'm pre-enrolling ... to get connected and get counted because my kids -- all five of them -- they are not just numbers, they are names. They are people, and they count," Herrin said.

Flint water drinkers were exposed to elevated levels of lead after the city's water source was changed to the Flint River in April 2014 -- a time when a state-appointed emergency manager was running the city.

The state Department of Environmental Quality never required the new water source to be treated to make it less corrosive to lead in pipes and plumbing, which allowed lead to leach into the city's water supply.

State and federal funds since that time have allowed for a program to replace all lead and galvanized water service lines in Flint, an expansion of Medicaid and the establishment of the registry.