By Senator John Cherry
I had just arrived at my daughter’s t-ball game when I got a call that would determine the future of Rx Kids in Flint, Michigan.
On the other end was the Senate Appropriations Committee chair for the Michigan Legislature. Negotiations between the House and the Senate were coming down to the wire, and Rx Kids — a proposal to provide unconditional cash to families in Flint during pregnancy and a baby’s first year of life — was either going to make it into the state budget or risk being diminished or delayed indefinitely.
At that point, Rx Kids had moved well beyond an abstract policy idea for me. It was a real chance to improve the long-term trajectory of thousands of children’s lives. And as I looked around the t-ball field, I couldn’t help but imagine those kids as babies, and what something like this could have meant for them and their families.
The idea of Rx Kids came from Dr. Mona Hanna and Professor Luke Shaefer as a way to alleviate child poverty and improve infant and maternal health in Flint. In 2023, nearly 60% of children in Flint were born into poverty, more than three times the statewide rate. Flint has come a long way in recent years, especially since the crisis of lead in the drinking water tore open the community more than a decade ago. But with hundreds of babies still born into poverty each year, we had more work to do to make sure every child in our community had a fair shot at a healthy, opportunity-filled life.
Poverty causes harm at any age. But it is especially damaging at the beginning of life. When families lack stable income during pregnancy and a baby’s first year, the risks pile up quickly: worse maternal health, more preterm births, lower birth weights and developmental challenges that can follow children for years.
The solution Dr. Mona and Professor Shaefer proposed was simple. Rx Kids would “prescribe” unconditional cash to families: $1,500 during pregnancy and $500 per month during the baby’s first year of life. Every family expecting a baby or caring for a new baby in Flint would be eligible.
Rx Kids was not baked from scratch. Similar programs had already shown that giving families flexible cash during financially stressful periods can reduce hardship. The 2021 expansion of the federal Child Tax Credit proved the point at a national scale, helping move 2.9 million children out of poverty during the pandemic.
I’m a dad to two amazing kids, and I remember the relief those payments offered my family during COVID. Most of that money went to things for my kids, and we weren’t unique in that.
Rx Kids would start in Flint as a five-year pilot estimated to cost $55 million for the first five years of operation. Philanthropy was already on board, local funding was being pursued, and the team had a plan for using state dollars. What they needed was a legislative champion to help other lawmakers see what this could mean for children in Flint and, eventually, across Michigan.
That’s where I came in. What followed is a story about how a simple idea, backed by evidence and paired with creative public financing, became one of the most promising anti-poverty programs in the country.
Why Rx Kids Could Win Broad Support
Democrats had a trifecta in Michigan state government in 2023 — the first in 40 years — so I was fairly confident I could rally the votes needed for state funding for Rx Kids. But I also knew the program would be stronger long-term if it had bipartisan support.
Poverty does not discriminate by demographics or political party. It’s not an urban problem or a rural problem. It happens everywhere, to all kinds of people. By and large, my colleagues in the state legislature are there because they truly care about the people they serve. No one wants kids in their communities to be born at a disadvantage and to struggle to fulfill their potential.
Rx Kids is really good for children — all children. It is also an effective and efficient way to tackle poverty, which means there are multiple ways to talk about the program that can appeal to people who approach the government from different viewpoints.
If you care most about helping babies and families, Rx Kids does that. If you care most about efficient government, Rx Kids does that too. If you care about supporting parents in having more children, Rx Kids helps there as well.
Senator John DaMoose, a Republican from the Eastern Upper Peninsula, offered his support early. He is particularly and admirably connected to his community, and he could see how Rx Kids could be applied in his district too. In rural communities where services can be farther away and harder to access, flexible cash support can be especially powerful because families can use it for what they actually need — transportation, diapers, rent, formula, a utility bill or whatever else helps stabilize their household. He was also rightfully swayed by the potentially high return on public investment.
That effectiveness angle was important for me too. I went to the Ford School of Public Policy, and I have always believed government should make sure its investments are actually working. I don’t want to say, “Look at the great things we’re funding,” while merely hoping they help people.
And I wasn’t entirely confident that money the state was already spending to alleviate poverty was delivering results as well as it could.
How We Paid for It
The financing required creativity. Like all states, Michigan receives federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funding, known as TANF, and state legislatures have some say in how those funds are used. We proposed using some of those TANF funds to support Medicaid-eligible families in Flint during the period around childbirth, when financial hardship often peaks. Rx Kids also partnered with the nonprofit GiveDirectly to administer payments in a way that helped protect families’ access to SNAP, Medicaid and housing vouchers.
Other participants would be covered through other funding streams, including philanthropy and local support. It was a unique plan, for sure, but the policy case for the support was clear. Families needed help. The evidence suggested cash support would work. And with high poverty rates, Flint was a good place to start. The only question was whether we could get it through the budget process.
That brings me back to the t-ball game, phone in hand, negotiating hard. But we did it. In June 2023, the Michigan Legislature approved $16.5 million in TANF funds to launch Rx Kids in Flint. The program kicked off six months later.
The Results
Rx Kids has been a wild success.
As of August 2026, it has served over 2,700 families in Flint. It has had an unprecedented level of reach in the community, with nearly all eligible babies enrolled and more than 90% of mothers enrolling prenatally.
The results show that when families have more financial stability during pregnancy and a child’s first year of life, benefits accrue quickly — in health, housing, nutrition and overall well-being. Positive impacts identified thus far include:
18% decrease in preterm births
27% decrease in the proportion of infants born with low birth weights
29% reduction in admissions to neonatal intensive care, generating an estimated $6.2 million in healthcare savings
32% decrease in the rate of allegations of infant maltreatment
91% decrease in evictions for participants
Families also reported reduced rent and mortgage debt, and improved access to healthy foods. And if that’s not enough, mothers report feeling more loved, respected and hopeful. They trust healthcare and government institutions more than they did before.
Rx Kids is changing lives and rebuilding the social contract for families — for just $7,500 per baby in Flint. In the grand scheme of government, that is so little for so much in return.
Rx Kids quickly spread beyond Flint. By the end of 2025, it was operating in five more communities, including those as different as urban Kalamazoo and rural Clare County. In October 2025, the Legislature included a historic $270 million investment in Rx Kids in the 2025-26 state budget, using money from both TANF and the Healthy Michigan Fund. That investment is expected to reach nearly 100,000 babies — about one-third of all births in the state. And, as of this summer, Rx Kids was operating in over 60 Michigan communities, with plans to expand to Cleveland, Ohio, this fall.
Why Other Cities and States Should Fund Rx Kids
We are already seeing the effects of Rx Kids in better health and well-being for mothers and babies. But the full impact will unfold over decades, as these babies grow into the incredible people they were born to be. I’m excited, when I’m older, to see what the impact is — and honored to know that I helped plant those seeds.
Dr. Mona, Professor Shaefer and the Rx Kids team have made it easy for other cities and states to copy what we are doing here in Michigan with a digital start-up guide. I’ll offer a few lessons learned too.
Rx Kids is a win-win-win program. Sell it that way to get bipartisan support. Rx Kids has developed as a bipartisan program in Michigan because it is good for children in every community, whether Democratic or Republican, urban or rural. It also begins paying for itself quickly by reducing costly outcomes, including NICU visits and evictions. The program improves lives and is a sound public investment, making it hard to oppose, no matter where someone falls politically.
Secure sustained, multi-level public investment. We got creative with TANF funding in Flint, but TANF rules only allow short-term benefits to cover a limited period of support for lower-income families. To offer full coverage, interested jurisdictions need to blend TANF with other state and local funding streams. In Genesee County, which I represent, the Board of Commissioners is putting up money to help expand Rx Kids to more communities across the county.
Use data to measure success from the outset. Because Rx Kids is a universal program, community-wide administrative data, such as health system data and vital records system data, can be used to evaluate program impact. We know the Rx Kids model works, and the evidence base for it in Michigan is only growing. But being able to quantify and communicate success within your own community can help build ongoing support.
Years from now, the babies reached by Rx Kids will be students, workers, parents, neighbors, and maybe even state senators. We may never know every way this support changed their lives. But we already know enough to keep going — and enough for other communities across the country to join us.
Results for America is hosting Dr. Mona Hanna and other Michigan leaders for an in-depth discussion of Rx Kids on Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at 3 p.m. ET. Participants will leave with practical lessons for designing, funding and implementing similar programs in their communities. Reserve your spot for this virtual event.
You can learn more about how Rx Kids was implemented in Flint in this case study in Results for America’s Economic Mobility Catalog.
