Skip to main content

How Rx Kids Helped a Flint Mom With Home Ownership

By December 16, 2024Ashlie

Rx Kids Mom Ashlie Stewart holds baby Sophya’s feet during a photoshoot in May of 2024.

Two of the biggest financial stressors on families are home ownership and having a child. Flint resident Ashlie Stewart experienced both at once, buying a home while also having a newborn child.

Stewart’s enrollment in the Rx Kids program helped relieve some of those stresses.

“The first payment helped out a lot, because I became a homeowner recently and things were rough financially so that initial payment helped with all of those costs at once, the costs of a new home and then all of the things the other kids need too.”

Rx Kids baby Sophya (photo courtesy of Ashlie Stewart)

Stewart’s experience is in line with early data from Rx Kids that shows many moms in Flint have used cash payments from Rx Kids to help supplement rent or mortgage costs and improve their families’ housing stability. Prior to the launch of Rx Kids in Flint, the rate of families in the city who were behind on rent or mortgage payments was much higher.

Rx Kids families were more likely to report that they had enough diapers than Flint families in 2023 who did not receive Rx Kids. They were more likely to report that they had “enough cash on hand for an emergency,” and they were far more likely to say they had “freedom to choose how they use their cash.”

Stewart’s daughter, Sophya, was born early in 2024, and Stewart also has three other children, ages 5, 3, and 2. The financial support through Rx Kids has helped her spend more time enjoying being a mom and spending time with her kids rather than having to rush back to work immediately after giving birth.

Stewart also enjoys cooking, including for Flint Driven Church, and has been able to find time to continue doing that despite being a busy mom.

“When I’m having a bad day, the kids always turn it around for me and make me happy and grateful for what I have,” Stewart said.

Since Sophya was born, Stewart has been adjusting to her schedule and enjoying how her youngest interacts with her siblings.

“Sleep patterns change a lot in the first few weeks and few months and go back and forth, so that’s the hardest to me is just adapting to what they want to do,” she said. “She’s laughing and sitting up and so alert (at three months). She’s already watching her sisters all the time and almost trying to follow them around.”

Luke Shaefer, co-director of Rx Kids and director of Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan, is excited about the direct impact of Rx Kids on moms like Stewart and the overall results the program has had in less than a year on Flint families.

Rx Kids baby Sophya (photo courtesy of Ashlie Stewart)

“The feedback our team has received from families and moms has been overwhelmingly positive,” Shaefer said. “In a short amount of time in Flint, Rx Kids has shown that by providing cash payments directly to families so that they can make their own decisions about what their most immediate needs are, we can meaningfully and dramatically improve the financial well-being of families welcoming a new baby, help make sure they are getting the food they want and improve their housing security, and help moms feel supported in the hard work of parenting a newborn. We are ecstatic about these early results in Flint and can’t wait to see how Rx Kids similarly impacts other communities in Michigan in the next year.”

Rx Kids recently announced that the program will be implemented in the city of Kalamazoo in 2025, with other communities in Michigan planned after that. Stewart says that expansion of the program would be a great benefit for all moms.

“I think it’s a great idea, and helps out a lot in the first year,” she said. “Diapers are expensive, her clothes are expensive because she grows really fast. Having help with costs like that means a lot to moms.”