Rx Kids Celebrates Program’s First Birthday, Shares Milestones

More than 1,300 babies and families in the city of Flint have received nearly $6 million in cash prescriptions since Rx Kids launched in January 2024. A birthday bash complete with cupcakes, coloring pages, and other birthday fun, was held Jan. 29 at the Flint Children’s Museum for 100 guests.

“The first year of life is full of beautiful milestones – smiling, sitting, crawling, babbling and even walking,” said Mona Hanna, pediatrician, director of Rx Kids and Michigan State University College of Human Medicine associate dean of public health. “We are so grateful to celebrate all these milestones with our thriving babies and families. In no time, our babies will be running and talking, and we are certain that this Rx Kids dose of economic stability in their critical first year will ensure many more happy birthdays to come.”

Hanna and Luke Shaefer, Rx Kids co-director, professor of public policy, and director of Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan, shared some of the early impact and data collected to demonstrate the program’s success.

“Programs like Rx Kids prove that we can solve big problems through private-public partnerships that are fiscally responsible and at the same time center and lift up moms and babies and meet their most critical needs,” Shaefer said. “We are thrilled with the success of Rx Kids in Flint, and excited for the blueprint this community has provided for how to replicate that impact in other areas.”

A recent survey of participants conducted by GiveDirectly, the cash prescription administrator of the program, included more than 500 responses that articulate ways the program has improved their lives.

Of the Rx Kids families who responded, 59% make under $10,000 annually, and 89% make under $30,000. A majority (55%) are renters and 64% had two or more dependent children. Other findings include:

• 88% of participants say that Rx Kids has helped them make ends meet and feel more secure in their finances.
• 50% of Rx Kids participants experienced a financial shock after enrolling in Rx Kids.
• 89% reported that they used the Rx Kids money to help mitigate the shock that they experienced.
• The most common category of financial shocks experienced by participants include auto (34%), rent/utilities (17%), job loss (16%), basic expenses (10%), and moving (6%).
• 66% say that Rx Kids has made it easier to get the healthcare that their household needs, including necessary prenatal care and pediatric care.
• 86% of participants who are currently pregnant have been to at least one prenatal care appointment in the past three months.
• 96% of participants with infants have been to at least one pediatric visit in the past three months.
• 84% say that the money from Rx Kids has helped them become more confident as parents.
• 71% say that the money from Rx Kids helped them take time off from work to care for themselves or their loved ones.
• 67% feel that Rx Kids has helped to improve the health of themselves and their infants.
• The top areas Rx Kids moms reported using cash prescriptions on were baby supplies, followed by food, utilities, rent and clothing.

One mom who responded to the survey noted that it has allowed her to finish her GED and further her career goals.“I literally have not been able to do school and work for years and struggle[ed] with dropping out of school just to work because of bills, but thanks to [the] Rx Kids program I can finish school, I’m a proud mother and owe it all to them,” she said.