The Rx Kids program is coming to Roscommon and Gladwin counties through a partnership with the Central Michigan District Health Department.
Starting on Dec. 1, eligible mothers in these counties can receive $1,500 during pregnancy, followed by $500 each month through the baby's first six months of life.
Dr. Mona Hanna, Rx Kids founder and director said the program is the first universal, unconditional program for moms and babies.
"There is not a lottery, it's not means tested," she said. "It is for everybody in a community and that hasn't been done before."
The program was originally launch in Flint in 2024 by the Michigan State University Pediatric Public Health Initiative. It has now expanded to 16 cities and counties in Michigan.
"It's the nation's first ever community wide prenatal and infant cash prescription program," Emily Nelson, family health director with the CMDHD said. "It provides life changing financial security that is universal and unconditional."
According to a new study, maltreatment with infants in Flint have dropped since the start of the Rx Kids program.
“Before Rx Kids, the maltreatment rate in Flint was over double the statewide rate, 21.7% in Flint versus 10% for the state,” said William Schneider, researcher at the University of Illinois, who conducted the study. “But after Rx Kids, the disparity between Flint and the state narrowed by 50% within the first year of the program."
The program is funded through a bill signed into law by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer that provides Rx Kids with $270 million.
The funding includes $20 million from the Temporary Assistance for Needing Families and $250 million from the Healthy Michigan Fund. These are both one-time grants, meant to cover the next three years.
"Rx Kids was born as this kind of bold effort to address a social determinant of health and economic instability," Hanna said. "To make sure every kid that is born is healthy and successful."
An expecting mother in one of the 16 communities can apply for the program online.
