Mercedesz Brown is a twin mom in Detroit who has long been an advocate for her city.
Mercedesz Brown is a lifelong Detroit resident who was born and raised throughout Detroit and currently calls Detroit’s West Side her home. Her twin daughters, Saanvi and Sanaa, were born in February. For Brown, who works as a flight attendant, the timing of the launch of Rx Kids in her home city was just right.
“The Rx Kids program has provided my family with relief,” she said. “As a first-time mom of twins, it truly is a blessing and came to Detroit at a perfect time. Because of Rx Kids, I have been able to set funds aside, pay bills, and purchase things I need for my girls. With twins, everything is so much more expensive because it is doubled.”
Rooted in Detroit
Before she was a mom, Brown was constantly on the move. As a flight attendant, she spent time traveling across the country and beyond. But no matter where she went, Detroit pulled her back.
“This is home,” she said. “This is where I developed myself.”
Mercedesz Brown received a Spirit of Detroit award for leading a community event at the Butzel Community Center. The mural she crocheted took her two months to complete.
She describes her life in Detroit as a series of lessons, some very hard, some joyful, that shaped who she is. It’s where she discovered her creativity, teaching herself how to crochet and eventually leading a community event, “The Recreation of Togetherness,” at the Butzel Family Center that unified seniors, peers, and youth together to view a large mural blanket she crocheted, etc. The work earned her a Spirit of Detroit Award, but more importantly, it reflected the values she carries into motherhood today: resilience.
“I feel like if you can make it in Detroit, you can make it anywhere,” she said. “If you fall, you get back up and do it again.”
Those lessons became especially important during her pregnancy. Brown didn’t qualify for paid maternity or short-term disability leave through her job because she is a new flight attendant, and her insurance policy didn’t begin until the next month. If she had been eligible, she would have been able to receive half of her paycheck for six months. Not being eligible really hit home and was a huge wake-up call of, “I am pregnant. What do I do now?” That’s where the Rx Kids program came in and truly helped ease the end of her pregnancy going into giving birth to her twins. It came at the perfect time, giving her the financial relief of months to bond with her babies and figure out everything else with peace of mind.
“I really didn’t have any money,” she said. “I wasn’t getting paid anything, and it was very hard being pregnant, worrying about my livelihood with little funds, basically no income. Definitely not enough to sustain six months of my maternity leave.”
As a twin mom, Mercedesz Brown had double the costs for her new babies, which made the support from Rx Kids extra beneficial.
Relief at the right time
That’s where Rx Kids came in.
The program, which provides direct cash support to expectant and new mothers, launched in Detroit in February and quickly made an impact. In just its first month, more than $1 million was distributed to over 1,000 Detroit moms, offering immediate relief during pregnancy and early infancy.
Across Michigan, the results have been just as clear. Of the nearly $40 million distributed through Rx Kids so far, most families are spending the money on essentials like baby supplies, food, rent, and utilities, basic needs that create stability for both parents and infants.
For Brown, that stability has been life-changing.
“It’s helped me pay my rent for a few months. It’s helped me get things for my twins that I need,” she said.
The program has also given her the space to focus on the many needs of her babies during the critical early months of their lives.
“My babies are my new crew scheduling,” she said. “I don’t get any sleep.”
But what Rx Kids has given her is something just as important as financial support: breathing room.
“That’s what it feels like, an extra blanket,” she said. “Like, ‘We got you for the next six months.’”
Trusting moms
That idea—trusting families to know what they need—is at the heart of the program. For Brown, that trust is deeply felt. It’s not just about the dollars; it’s about being seen.
“I haven’t seen a program where people think of moms in this capacity,” she said. “It inspires me to give back. Being a twin mom, I might not get a lot of sleep. But at least I have the relief and security for six months of my life.”
