Community Feature
Lifting Children Out of Poverty with Universal, Direct Cash Prescriptions
Rx Kids, a landmark public-private partnership, launched in Flint in 2024 as the nation’s first citywide maternal and infant cash prescription program. As of spring 2025, it has expanded to the cities of Kalamazoo and Pontiac and the Eastern Upper Peninsula, which includes Alger, Chippewa, Luce, Mackinac and Schoolcraft Counties. More than 16 CMF members support the program.
Through Rx Kids, Flint families are “prescribed” a total of $7,500 in cash. This includes a one-time $1,500 payment to expectant mothers in mid-pregnancy, followed by $500 per month for the first year of a child’s life. The time frame for payments varies in other communities.
The program is designed to alleviate poverty among families while bolstering family financial security, improving health equity and revitalizing local economies. Rx Kids serves all families with infants within Rx Kids communities. It does not utilize an income test or lottery.
Rx Kids builds on the success of the 2021 expanded Child Tax Credit, which lifted millions of children out of poverty. Rx Kids shares that more than 70% of all nations across the globe that have implemented similar child cash transfer programs have seen reductions in child poverty and improvements in health outcomes.
Rx Kids is a program of Michigan State University Pediatric Public Health Initiative, in collaboration with Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan and administered by GiveDirectly. Through the support and vision of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Rx Kids was able to be launched in the city of Flint in 2024.
Ridgway White
President & CEO
Mott Foundation
“One of the most important roles of philanthropy is helping catalyze great ideas that can be tested and scaled. Rx Kids is a great example of this,” said Ridgway White, president and CEO of the Mott Foundation. “The Mott Foundation supports Rx Kids in Flint because of the boldness of its approach to significantly reducing childhood poverty and associated negative health effects. Rx Kids allows families to choose for themselves the best way to spend the money. And that’s so important. We have to trust that parents know what’s best for their children and their families. Every family is different.”
As of March 2025, more than $7.5 million has been prescribed to more than 1,851 families in all Rx Kids communities.
A November 2024 survey of Rx Kids participants in Flint revealed:
- 88% of participants say that Rx Kids has helped them make ends meet and feel more secure in their finances.
- 50% of Rx Kids participants experienced a financial shock [categories included auto (34%), rent/utilities (17%), job loss (16%), basic expenses (10%), and moving (6%)] after enrolling in Rx Kids, with 89% reporting that they used the Rx Kids money to help mitigate the shock that they experienced.
- 66% say that Rx Kids has made it easier to get the healthcare that their household needs.
- 84% say that the money from Rx Kids has helped them become more confident as parents.
- 71% say that the money from Rx Kids helped them take time off from work to care for themselves or their loved ones.
“In addition to helping moms meet basic financial needs and buy things they need for their babies, there have been other positive outcomes among Flint moms participating in Rx Kids. For example, none were evicted from their homes, moms got to prenatal care sooner and more often, and trust in health care and the government improved,” White said.
White noted that, in addition to making families’ day-to-day lives easier and healthier, the foundation hopes Rx Kids will inform important policies to ensure children can thrive.
“Rx Kids will contribute to the research on anti-poverty, prenatal and early childhood investments and their effects on health equity, and, at the same time, inform policy at the local, state and national levels,” White said.
In March, policymakers in Lansing announced that they would like to expand the program statewide, noting it as one of their priorities ahead of budget negotiations.
As the program continues to gain national attention for its approach, White says it has also helped the foundation consider other ways to work alongside the community.
“Rx Kids has encouraged Mott Foundation staff to consider other direct ways to support Flint residents. The foundation funds a lot of programming that aims to improve the quality of life for the community, but residents don’t only need programs. Sometimes residents and families need direct support. Programs like Rx Kids help push us to think outside the box,” White said.
Want more?
Learn more about Rx Kids.
As of March 2025, Rx Kids is supported by CMF members: Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Stryker Johnston Foundation, Ruth Mott Foundation, The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, Michigan Health Endowment Fund, The Alix Foundation, Pontiac Funders Collaborative, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation, The Children’s Foundation, Community Foundation of Greater Flint, Kalamazoo Community Foundation, Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation, Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, The Skillman Foundation and Donovan Family Foundation.
Dr. Mona Hanna celebrating with Flint moms and other Rx Kids supporters at the Flint Children’s Museum | Photo by Jenifer Veloso | Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
Flint baby celebrating at the Rx Kids one-year celebration event at the Flint Children’s Museum | Photo by Jenifer Veloso | Charles Stewart Mott Foundation