Rx Kids expands to Montmorency County, two southeast Michigan cities

Rx Kids, a prenatal and infant direct cash support program that started in Flint in 2024 and has since expanded to communities across Michigan, has launched in three new locations — Montmorency County in northeast Michigan, as well as the cities of Mount Clemens and Center Line in Macomb County. 

Expectant mothers and families with babies born on or after April 1 are eligible to apply for the cash benefits in these new locations, which join the nearly 40 other counties, cities and regions of the state that have access to the program already.  

“Rx Kids is proving that when we invest directly in families, it works, whether they live in a rural county like Montmorency or in the heart of a major city” said Dr. Mona Hanna, founder and director of Rx Kids and associate dean of public health at the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, in a press release from the program. “Every community deserves healthy pregnancies, thriving babies, and less financial stress. Michigan is showing the nation what’s possible when we put families first.” 

Recent information published by Rx Kids shows that, since the program’s launch in 2024, over $29 million has been given to families, and that in eligible communities, around 98% of newborns were enrolled in the program. That money has largely been spent on baby supplies, food, rent or housing expenses, and utilities, and virtually none was spent on luxury or discretionary items. One key element of the program is that the money is given without stipulations on how it can be spent, trusting parents to make those decisions individually. 

While that has made the program a target of attacks by Michigan House Republicans, Hanna has repeatedly emphasized that Rx Kids has strong standards of transparency and accountability.

“Rx Kids has a lot of safeguards. We have lots of processes in place that this is going to the right person at the right time in the right place, lots of safeguarding processes, fraud detection processes that help confirm identity, residency, pregnancy and childbirth,” Hanna told Michigan Advance.

Local health care leaders celebrated the expansion, with Christine Hitch, the Development & Marketing Director for the Community Foundation for Northeast Michigan, saying that it “is a privilege for the Community Foundation to be part of a program that invests in the health of new mothers and their babies.”

“After decades of caring for families in northern Michigan, I’ve seen time and time again how financial stress can be a threat to a healthy pregnancy,” Dr. Richard Bates, the CEO of Thunder Bay Community Health Service, said in the press release. “That’s why bringing Rx Kids to Montmorency County matters so deeply. Thanks to bipartisan support from the Legislature, generous donors, and the leadership of the Community Foundation for Northeast Michigan, our community can now offer mothers the stability they need. Health begins in the home, and with Rx Kids, we’re giving families the chance to start strong.”