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Stay connected to everything related to Rx Kids through selected media highlights. Here, you will find the continued impact and success stories of Rx Kids.

Every Flint Baby is Getting Cash Aid. Could Upper Peninsula Babies be Next?
Every Flint Baby is Getting Cash Aid. Could Upper Peninsula Babies be Next?Michigan Radio

Every Flint Baby is Getting Cash Aid. Could Upper Peninsula Babies be Next?

The true goal of Rx Kids goes far beyond Flint, as Dr. Mona acknowledged, scooping up one of the Rx Kids babies she finds in an exam room. “Do you think we should do this for babies everywhere? What do you think?” she asks, cooing.
October 3, 2024 Read More
Rx Kids Welcomes Federal Leaders and Shares Program Success Data with Diapers and Donuts
Rx Kids Welcomes Federal Leaders and Shares Program Success Data with Diapers and DonutsRx Kids

Rx Kids Welcomes Federal Leaders and Shares Program Success Data with Diapers and Donuts

Today, Flint welcomes federal officials as they lift up Rx Kids as an innovative model for the nation, an exemplar of what can happen when communities and government work together to support new families during the critical first year of life.
September 19, 2024 Read More
Rx Kids Statement on New Child Poverty Numbers in Today’s Census Release
Rx Kids Statement on New Child Poverty Numbers in Today’s Census ReleaseRx Kids

Rx Kids Statement on New Child Poverty Numbers in Today’s Census Release

FLINT - the U.S. Census Bureau today released its 2023 national poverty statistics, showing a 1.3 percentage point increase — to 13.7% — in child poverty. Dr. H. Luke Shaefer, co-founder of Rx Kids and Professor at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan,…
September 17, 2024 Read More
Michigan’s Rx Kids Excels at Protecting and Taking Care of Kids
Michigan’s Rx Kids Excels at Protecting and Taking Care of KidsDetroit Free Press

Michigan’s Rx Kids Excels at Protecting and Taking Care of Kids

"When I study programs designed to lift up the least of these, I want ones that really do just that. They must treat people with dignity and respect. They must provide real, tangible aid to those in need. And the bill must be one we can afford. I believe the…
September 4, 2024 Read More
Kalamazoo Moms Can Apply to get $7,500 Next Year. Here’s How.
Kalamazoo Moms Can Apply to get $7,500 Next Year. Here’s How.Detroit Free Press

Kalamazoo Moms Can Apply to get $7,500 Next Year. Here’s How.

A program that provides cash payments to expectant mothers and families with babies is slated to launch next year in Kalamazoo, as part of a statewide expansion to help eliminate infant poverty.
August 28, 2024 Read More
Kalamazoo Announces Groundbreaking Prescription Cash Program for Expectant Mothers and Birthing Individuals, Launching 2025
Kalamazoo Announces Groundbreaking Prescription Cash Program for Expectant Mothers and Birthing Individuals, Launching 2025Rx Kids

Kalamazoo Announces Groundbreaking Prescription Cash Program for Expectant Mothers and Birthing Individuals, Launching 2025

Kalamazoo Rx Kids, the City of Kalamazoo’s first-ever cash prescription program for expectant mothers and infants, will launch in 2025. The program, which is an expansion of Flint Rx Kids and a statewide program, will provide a no-strings-attached cash prescription of $1,500 during pregnancy and $500 each month for the…
August 27, 2024 Read More
Rx Kids Cash Prescription Program Reaching Nearly Every Flint Newborn
Rx Kids Cash Prescription Program Reaching Nearly Every Flint NewbornMLive

Rx Kids Cash Prescription Program Reaching Nearly Every Flint Newborn

Rx Kids, the first-of-its-kind cash prescription program for mothers and their babies, is reaching nearly every newborn in the city of Flint. Rx Kids has a near 100% uptake rate and prescribed more than $2 million to more than 900 mothers since its launch in January 2024.
August 18, 2024 Read More
Key Insights from the First Citywide Maternal and Infant Cash Prescription Program
Key Insights from the First Citywide Maternal and Infant Cash Prescription ProgramRx Kids

Key Insights from the First Citywide Maternal and Infant Cash Prescription Program

Rx Kids is improving the lives of City of Flint families with improved health care utilization, more security in finances, more confidence in parenting, stable housing, transportation to medical appointments, and cash prescriptions spent on items for babies.
August 14, 2024 Read More
Flint Public Art Project Mural Celebrates Rx Kids
Flint Public Art Project Mural Celebrates Rx KidsC.S. Mott Foundation

Flint Public Art Project Mural Celebrates Rx Kids

More than 20 students from the Flint Cultural Center Academy helped Flint Public Art Project artist Johnny Fletcher put the finishing touches on a new Rx Kids mural in July.
August 2, 2024 Read More
How Public Art Helps to Tell the Rx Kids Story in Flint
How Public Art Helps to Tell the Rx Kids Story in FlintRx Kids

How Public Art Helps to Tell the Rx Kids Story in Flint

Kindness, love, hope, and the joy of childhood are themes in all six Rx Kids murals created by Flint Public Art Project artists around Flint since the spring of 2024.
July 17, 2024 Read More
Rx Kids Celebrates $2 Million in Cash Prescribed to Flint Families
Rx Kids Celebrates $2 Million in Cash Prescribed to Flint FamiliesCity of Flint

Rx Kids Celebrates $2 Million in Cash Prescribed to Flint Families

Since its launch in January of 2024, Rx Kids has already prescribed more than $2 million to Flint families to fight childhood poverty.
July 11, 2024 Read More
Cash Program for Moms and Babies Expected to Expand Across Michigan
Cash Program for Moms and Babies Expected to Expand Across MichiganBridge Michigan

Cash Program for Moms and Babies Expected to Expand Across Michigan

A program on a mission to eliminate deep infant poverty by giving cash payments to pregnant moms and babies in Flint is expected to expand to cities across Michigan.
July 6, 2024 Read More
Cash Payments for Parents Could Change Futures for Michigan Kids
Cash Payments for Parents Could Change Futures for Michigan KidsDetroit Free Press

Cash Payments for Parents Could Change Futures for Michigan Kids

In a matter of days, the Michigan Legislature will finalize the state budget and — we hope — increase funding so Rx Kids can help even more moms and their little ones in our great state.
June 25, 2024 Read More
There was a ‘Baby Parade’ in Flint with … so Many Babies!
baby parade
There was a ‘Baby Parade’ in Flint with … so Many Babies!MLive

There was a ‘Baby Parade’ in Flint with … so Many Babies!

“Our communities thrive when our kids are healthy and taken care of, and we can’t think of a better way to celebrate our beloved, talented children in Flint than a Baby Parade,” said Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha.
June 13, 2024 Read More
Rx Kids Hosting ‘Baby Parade’ to Celebrate Flint Children
Rx Kids Hosting ‘Baby Parade’ to Celebrate Flint ChildrenRx Kids

Rx Kids Hosting ‘Baby Parade’ to Celebrate Flint Children

In 1918, the United States government recognized ‘Children’s Year,’ an effort to “save 100,000 babies” by addressing issues that impact child welfare, including a lack of data on maternal and child health, the effects of poverty on health, lack of educational resources, and a lack of safe spaces for children…
May 30, 2024 Read More
Could Giving Low-Income Patients Cash Improve Their Health?
Could Giving Low-Income Patients Cash Improve Their Health?AAMC

Could Giving Low-Income Patients Cash Improve Their Health?

In January 2024, the city of Flint, Michigan — notorious for its lead water crisis in 2014-2016 — implemented a new, and what some might consider unconventional, public health intervention: prescriptions for money.
May 30, 2024 Read More
Rx Kids Program a ‘Lifesaver,’ Allowing Flint Moms to Focus on Children
Rx Kids Program a ‘Lifesaver,’ Allowing Flint Moms to Focus on ChildrenMLive

Rx Kids Program a ‘Lifesaver,’ Allowing Flint Moms to Focus on Children

Since it launched in January of 2024, the Flint Rx Kids program has delivered cash payments to more than 700 Flint mothers and babies. The program has helped moms plan for the unexpected and often high costs of pregnancy and focus on the health of their babies.
May 26, 2024 Read More
An Historic Mother’s Day: Nearly 700 Flint Moms Have Enrolled in Rx Kids
An Historic Mother’s Day: Nearly 700 Flint Moms Have Enrolled in Rx KidsRx Kids

An Historic Mother’s Day: Nearly 700 Flint Moms Have Enrolled in Rx Kids

Flint just celebrated an historic Mother’s Day, with nearly 700 moms and babies enrolled in the Rx Kids program and more than $1 million in cash already prescribed.
May 16, 2024 Read More
Michigan Doctor Who Revealed Flint Water Crisis Now Takes on Child Poverty
Michigan Doctor Who Revealed Flint Water Crisis Now Takes on Child PovertyThe Guardian

Michigan Doctor Who Revealed Flint Water Crisis Now Takes on Child Poverty

In 2015, Dr Mona Hanna-Attisha alerted the world that children were being poisoned by lead in the water of her home town of Flint, Michigan. Now, as Flint marks the 10-year anniversary of the crisis, she’s set her sights on another target: the underlying poverty that she says allowed it…
April 25, 2024 Read More
Forum Explores Flint’s Effort to Combat Poverty Using Cash Payments for Mothers and Infants
Forum Explores Flint’s Effort to Combat Poverty Using Cash Payments for Mothers and InfantsMichigan Advance

Forum Explores Flint’s Effort to Combat Poverty Using Cash Payments for Mothers and Infants

Rx Kids pulls funding from a mechanism called non-recurring short-term benefits, which provides cash aid to families for a short amount of time during an acute economic crisis. So what’s the acute economic crisis? Childbirth.
April 15, 2024 Read More
Every New Mom in this U.S. City is Now Getting Cash Aid for a Year
Every New Mom in this U.S. City is Now Getting Cash Aid for a YearNPR

Every New Mom in this U.S. City is Now Getting Cash Aid for a Year

Flint, Mich., has one of the country’s highest rates of child poverty — something that got a lot of attention during the city’s lead water crisis a decade ago. And a pediatrician who helped expose that lead problem has now launched a first-of-its-kind move to tackle poverty: giving every new…
March 12, 2024 Read More
A Cash-assistance Program in Flint is Giving New Moms some Breathing Room
A Cash-assistance Program in Flint is Giving New Moms some Breathing RoomThe ‘Gander

A Cash-assistance Program in Flint is Giving New Moms some Breathing Room

Pregnancy brings its challenges, but being pregnant in Flint during the water crisis made things all the more difficult for Alana Turner. “I never realized how strange the things we went through with the water crisis were, because it just became a part of daily living,” Turner said.
March 12, 2024 Read More
$400K Paid So Far to 350 Flint Moms in First Month of Pathfinding RxKids Program
$400K Paid So Far to 350 Flint Moms in First Month of Pathfinding RxKids ProgramEast Village Magazine

$400K Paid So Far to 350 Flint Moms in First Month of Pathfinding RxKids Program

More than $400,000 has been paid to approximately 350 mothers in Flint in just over the first month of the nationally pathfinding program RxKids, the program’s coordinators announced at a celebration on February 14.
February 20, 2024 Read More
A New Anti-poverty Program in Flint, Michigan, Gives Cash to New Moms
A New Anti-poverty Program in Flint, Michigan, Gives Cash to New MomsPBS Newshour

A New Anti-poverty Program in Flint, Michigan, Gives Cash to New Moms

When Alana Turner’s son, Ace, was a baby, she had to boil bottled water to give him a warm bath — the water from the tap was contaminated with lead.
February 16, 2024 Read More
Why One City’s War on Child Poverty Should Matter to Voters in November
Why One City’s War on Child Poverty Should Matter to Voters in NovemberHuffington Post

Why One City’s War on Child Poverty Should Matter to Voters in November

A new program in Flint, Michigan, could be a model for the rest of America ― but only if the right officials are in place to support it.
February 16, 2024 Read More
Created Equal: Flint’s Rx Kids Program Aims to Abolish Childhood Poverty
Created Equal: Flint’s Rx Kids Program Aims to Abolish Childhood PovertyWDET

Created Equal: Flint’s Rx Kids Program Aims to Abolish Childhood Poverty

The program will provide every pregnant mother in Flint cash payments during pregnancy and throughout the child’s first year to accommodate families’ basic needs.
February 14, 2024 Read More
Prescribing Away Poverty
Prescribing Away PovertySpeaking of Kids

Prescribing Away Poverty

Bruce Lesley and Messellech “Selley” chat with Mona Hanna-Attisha and Luke Shaefer about Rx Kids, the root causes of health equity, and finding new ways to prevent poverty through opportunity.
January 31, 2024 Read More
Enrollment Open: Flint Makes History with Launch of Rx Kids
Enrollment Open: Flint Makes History with Launch of Rx KidsRx Kids

Enrollment Open: Flint Makes History with Launch of Rx Kids

On January 10, 2024, at 10 am, City of Flint pregnant moms and newborns will start enrolling in Rx Kids, the first citywide maternal and infant cash prescription program in the nation.  Joined by Mayor Sheldon Neeley, Michigan State University Interim President Teresa Woodruff, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation President Ridgway…
January 10, 2024 Read More
New Program Will Aid, Empower Flint Mothers
New Program Will Aid, Empower Flint MothersWNEM

New Program Will Aid, Empower Flint Mothers

WNEM | In early January, enrollment information will roll out on how every pregnant person in the city of Flint in 2024 can get access to a resource to help even the playing field in taking care of their children.
December 25, 2023 Read More
Newsmaker: Rx Kids Flint a Prescription to End
Newsmaker: Rx Kids Flint a Prescription to EndABC12 News

Newsmaker: Rx Kids Flint a Prescription to End

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha speaks with Dawn Jones about Rx Kids on ABC12 Newsmaker.
October 23, 2023 Read More
‘A Dream Come True’: In Flint, Every Pregnant Person is About to Receive Cash Through Rx Kids
‘A Dream Come True’: In Flint, Every Pregnant Person is About to Receive Cash Through Rx KidsMichigan Advance

‘A Dream Come True’: In Flint, Every Pregnant Person is About to Receive Cash Through Rx Kids

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Monday signed the $57.4 billion general government budget, which includes the Rx Kids money that’s coming from federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant funds.
August 1, 2023 Read More
Michigan’s New Anti-poverty Effort: $7,500 for Flint Moms, No Strings Attached
Michigan’s New Anti-poverty Effort: $7,500 for Flint Moms, No Strings AttachedBridge Michigan

Michigan’s New Anti-poverty Effort: $7,500 for Flint Moms, No Strings Attached

The program touted as the first-of-its-kind in the nation, Rx Kids is a $55 million experiment to test whether cash payments protect children from toxic stress and break cycles of poverty.
August 1, 2023 Read More
$16.5 Million Awarded to Flint Rx Kids Program
$16.5 Million Awarded to Flint Rx Kids ProgramABC12 News

$16.5 Million Awarded to Flint Rx Kids Program

Rx Kids, the program at the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine in Flint, is scheduled to receive more than $16 million. The announcement came from state leaders on Monday.
July 31, 2023 Read More
MSU Receives $423M in State Funding – Budget Includes $16.5 Million for Rx Kids
MSU Receives $423M in State Funding – Budget Includes $16.5 Million for Rx KidsMSU Today

MSU Receives $423M in State Funding – Budget Includes $16.5 Million for Rx Kids

State funding of $16.5 million will help launch Rx Kids, the first citywide effort in the U.S. aimed at tackling poverty to improve health outcomes for Flint mothers and babies.
July 21, 2023 Read More
Pediatrician Mona Hanna-Attisha’s Vision of “What We Can Do Next”
Pediatrician Mona Hanna-Attisha’s Vision of “What We Can Do Next”Early Learning Nation

Pediatrician Mona Hanna-Attisha’s Vision of “What We Can Do Next”

Early Learning Nation magazine caught up with Dr. Hanna-Attisha to learn more about her new organization, her thinking and what drives her.
June 29, 2023 Read More
Rx Kids Aims to Lift Up the Children and Families of Flint
Rx Kids Aims to Lift Up the Children and Families of FlintSpotlight on Poverty & Opportunity

Rx Kids Aims to Lift Up the Children and Families of Flint

Mona Hanna-Attisha, director of the MSU-Hurley Children’s Hospital Pediatric Public Health Initiative, and Luke Shaefer, Hermann and Amalie Kohn Professor of Social Justice and Social Policy at the University of Michigan, spoke to Spotlight about RxKids.
May 31, 2023 Read More
Flint Showed Us the Dangers of Poverty. Now It Could Show Us How to Fight It.
Flint Showed Us the Dangers of Poverty. Now It Could Show Us How to Fight It.Huffington Post

Flint Showed Us the Dangers of Poverty. Now It Could Show Us How to Fight It.

Mona Hanna-Attisha says she would like to protect her patients from poverty in the same way she protects them from infectious disease, malnutrition and other health hazards.
May 5, 2023 Read More
Mott Foundation Pledges $15M to Initiative that will Provide Cash Payments to Flint Mothers
Mott Foundation Pledges $15M to Initiative that will Provide Cash Payments to Flint MothersFlint Side

Mott Foundation Pledges $15M to Initiative that will Provide Cash Payments to Flint Mothers

Dr. Hanna-Attisha and the Rx Kids team are currently raising money now to meet the $15 million Mott Foundation match. Enrollment for the program is expected to open in 2024.
April 30, 2023 Read More
‘An Infusion of Joy’: How a Flint Pediatrician Hopes to Improve Health and Dismantle Poverty
‘An Infusion of Joy’: How a Flint Pediatrician Hopes to Improve Health and Dismantle PovertyMichigan Advance

‘An Infusion of Joy’: How a Flint Pediatrician Hopes to Improve Health and Dismantle Poverty

In Flint, where systemic racism and governmental failures left the Black-majority city to drink lead-contaminated water beginning in 2014 — a crisis that Hanna-Attisha’s research helped to expose.
April 30, 2023 Read More
Grant Aims to Provide Flint Moms, Babies with Cash Payments to Improve Health
Grant Aims to Provide Flint Moms, Babies with Cash Payments to Improve HealthDetroit Free Press

Grant Aims to Provide Flint Moms, Babies with Cash Payments to Improve Health

Moms and babies in Flint may soon be part of an innovative citywide program that prescribes cash assistance as an answer to health disparities.
April 25, 2023 Read More
Cash for Flint Mothers. Mott to Offer Up Up to $7500 to Help Baby’s First Year.
Cash for Flint Mothers. Mott to Offer Up Up to $7500 to Help Baby’s First Year.Bridge Michigan

Cash for Flint Mothers. Mott to Offer Up Up to $7500 to Help Baby’s First Year.

It is the first of its kind in the nation, according to the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, which will grant up to $15 million over three years to Michigan State University to support the program, Rx Kids.
April 21, 2023 Read More
Mott Grant Could Mean $15M to Allowance Program for Kids, Expectant Moms in Flint
Mott Grant Could Mean $15M to Allowance Program for Kids, Expectant Moms in FlintMLive

Mott Grant Could Mean $15M to Allowance Program for Kids, Expectant Moms in Flint

“Early childhood science has demonstrated the lifelong consequences of adversity, but also the promise of bold, preventative and justice-driven interventions,” Hanna-Attisha said.
April 20, 2023 Read More
Rx Kids Program Aims to Tackle Poverty to Improve the Health of City of Flint Moms and Babies
Rx Kids Program Aims to Tackle Poverty to Improve the Health of City of Flint Moms and BabiesC.S. Mott Department of Public Health

Rx Kids Program Aims to Tackle Poverty to Improve the Health of City of Flint Moms and Babies

Rx Kids will be the first citywide program in the U.S. to address maternal and infant poverty with the novel approach of unconditional cash allowances to all Flint pregnant moms and babies.
April 20, 2023 Read More
Dr. Mona’s Prescription for Helping Flint Kids? $500 Infant Cash Allowance for Entire City
Dr. Mona’s Prescription for Helping Flint Kids? $500 Infant Cash Allowance for Entire CityMLive

Dr. Mona’s Prescription for Helping Flint Kids? $500 Infant Cash Allowance for Entire City

The program is supported by the Pediatric Public Health Initiative, Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan, the Greater Flint Health Coalition, GiveDirectly, and other residents and nonprofit organizations.
March 14, 2023 Read More
Watch: Pediatrician Advocates Allowance for Pregnant Women, Children in Flint
Watch: Pediatrician Advocates Allowance for Pregnant Women, Children in FlintWNEM

Watch: Pediatrician Advocates Allowance for Pregnant Women, Children in Flint

During Monday’s city council meeting, Hanna-Attisha told council members 50 percent of Flint children live in poverty, which she said affects long-term physical and mental health and education.
March 14, 2023 Read More
Opinion: Rx for Children’s Health: Renew the Expanded Child Tax Credit
Opinion: Rx for Children’s Health: Renew the Expanded Child Tax CreditThe Hill

Opinion: Rx for Children’s Health: Renew the Expanded Child Tax Credit

“Poverty is one of the strongest risk factors for bad health — increasing the rates of asthma, obesity, developmental delay, infant mortality and injuries.”
December 14, 2022 Read More