A program delivering no-strings-attached cash assistance to pregnant women and new mothers has seen exponential growth in communities across Michigan.
Rx Kids began in Flint in 2024, providing pregnant people with $1,500 and then $500 a month for the first six months of their baby's life. Since then, it has expanded to more than two dozen communities in the state including Kalamazoo, Ypsilanti, most recently Detroit and soon, all of the Upper Peninsula.
Dr. Mona Hanna is behind the program. She was recently named in this year’s Time Magazine list of 100 most influential people in health.
"When you just provide a little bit of economic cushion, just a tiny bit of modest support, we see tremendous outcomes from improved mental health, family stability, less evictions, better food satisfaction, but ultimately better health," she said.
She says most families spend the money on baby supplies, particularly diapers. But it would be more expensive and bureaucratic to limit the dollars to just those kinds of purchases. To her, the flexibility makes the most difference to families.
"Some families need help with diapers, and some families need help with rent, and some families need help with utilities, and some families need help with transportation," she said. "So, the flexibility of this cash transfer allows families to meet lots of different needs, and because of that, we're seeing lots of different outcomes improving."
Last year, state lawmakers and Governor Gretchen Whitmer allocated $270 million dollars towards the program. According to the organization, that funding has the power to reach around 100,000 babies over the next three years.
The program was impacted by the clawback of already appropriated state funds by the House Appropriations Committee at the end of last year, but that doesn't effect the current budget allocation.
Republican House Speaker Matt Hall has signaled he does not plan to put more money towards the program in future budgets.
But Hanna says the need continues, and her ambition is to take Rx Kids nationwide.
"When I have a little newborn in my hand, and I know that baby's future health and opportunity is really kind of predicted by their zip code, by their environment, by the conditions of where they're growing up, that's not okay," she said.
"My goal is that this is really just the beginning of kind of a growing national awareness that we need to do better to take care of our littlest people, because really that's an investment in our nation."
This month, the Ingham County Board of Commissioners approved some matching funding to expand Rx Kids to Lansing, while the Jackson City Council took similar action to allow Jackson and Blackman Township families to potentially participate.
Interview Highlights
On what families spend the cash assistance on
The number one thing that people spend money on is baby supplies. ... And when you break it down in the data, it's actually diapers. And then folks are spending money on food, rent and utilities, so lots of kind of just basic needs to get by that are really critical for this mom-baby window, and that's why the program was designed during this window, because it's a time when income drops and expenses rise, yet it's such a consequential period for health and development.
On why the money doesn't have any stipulations on its use
We don't know what families need, and unconditional cash transfers is what is recommended globally from, for example, UNICEF and other global agencies, because it allows families to best meet their needs. Some families need help with diapers, and some families need help with rent, and some families need help with utilities, and some families need help with transportation. So, the flexibility of this cash transfer allows families to meet lots of different needs, and because of that, we're seeing lots of different outcomes improving.
On the future of Rx Kids
When I have a little newborn in my hand, and I know that baby's future health and opportunity is really kind of predicted by their zip code, by their environment, by the conditions of where they're growing up, that's not okay. We can do better ... So, my goal is that this is really just the beginning of kind of a growing national awareness that we need to do better to take care of our littlest people, because really that's an investment in our nation.
Interview Transcript
Sophia Saliby: A program delivering no-strings-attached cash assistance to pregnant women and new mothers has seen exponential growth in communities across Michigan.
Dr. Mona Hanna is behind the Rx Kids program which began in Flint in 2024. She was just named in this year’s Time Magazine list of 100 most influential people in health.
She joins me now to talk about the success she’s seen and potential expansions of RX Kids to Mid-Michigan. Thanks for being here.
Mona Hanna: Sophia, it's great to be with you.
Saliby: What have you learned in the two years since Rx Kids first launched?
Hanna: We've learned so much. I think it's really reaffirmed that families are struggling. Families are struggling during this really critical maternal-infant period. And when you just provide a little bit of economic cushion, just a tiny bit of modest support, we see tremendous outcomes from improved mental health, family stability, less evictions, better food satisfaction, but ultimately better health.
So, we are seeing a program that is working. We are seeing great need, and because of that great need, we are seeing tremendous interest from not just across the state, but really across the nation.
Saliby: What are mothers typically buying with this money?
Hanna: So, we ask moms, every six months, we do a survey to all our moms, and now it's a survey that's done throughout the whole state, to all of our sites, and every survey at every time, we have the same results in terms of what moms are spending this money on.
And it's also consistent with national and international data on child allowances, what people spend money on. The number one thing that people spend money on is baby supplies, and it is expensive to have a kiddo, which is a big reason lots of folks aren't having children. It's estimated just to cost another $20,000 just in that first year of life. Babies need a lot of stuff. So, that's what families report that the number one thing that they spend their money on is baby supplies.
And when you break it down in the data, it's actually diapers. And then folks are spending money on food, rent and utilities, so lots of kind of just basic needs to get by that are really critical for this mom-baby window, and that's why the program was designed during this window, because it's a time when income drops and expenses rise, yet it's such a consequential period for health and development.
Saliby: What would you say to people who say, okay, moms are spending this money on baby supplies, so we should just restrict the money that you're giving them to diapers or baby food or whatever else a baby might need?
Hanna: Yeah, any restriction on what folks spend their money on, makes this a more expensive program. It makes it more bureaucratic to administer when we're telling folks you can only spend it on X, Y and Z.
But it's also really paternalistic. We don't know what families need, and unconditional cash transfers is what is recommended globally from, for example, UNICEF and other global agencies, because it allows families to best meet their needs. Some families need help with diapers, and some families need help with rent, and some families need help with utilities, and some families need help with transportation.
So, the flexibility of this cash transfer allows families to meet lots of different needs, and because of that, we're seeing lots of different outcomes improving.
Saliby: What can you tell us about proposed expansions of Rx Kids to both Lansing and Jackson?
Hanna: Thanks to the bipartisan support of this program in the last budget, we received a significant amount of money to expand this program across the state. So, that's how we've been able to kind of really massively expand in 2026 from Detroit to the rest of the Upper Peninsula, to Berrien County, Saginaw communities.
So, we have an open application process right now for communities to apply who are interested in joining Rx Kids. So, there's three criteria. You have to have an interested community. There has to be need in that community, and that can be defined lots of different ways, child Poverty rates, the community's Medicaid birth rate, you know, a rural community with lack of kind of providers, so lots of definitions of need, and then there has to be a match.
So, it's amazing that we have tremendous bipartisan state support, but there still needs to be other dollars to make this program whole, from philanthropy, from corporations, from municipalities. So, lots of communities across the state right now are working on their applications, submitting them, but we are hopeful that many more communities will join, including Lansing and Jackson.
Saliby: Is your goal to bring this program to a statewide level? And would that require income limits on who would qualify with that many people if you think of the entire state?
Hanna: My goal is to bring this to the whole nation. When babies are born without the resources they need to thrive, it breaks my heart. You know, I was in clinic yesterday taking care of our kiddos, and when I have a little newborn in my hand, and I know that baby's future health and opportunity is really kind of predicted by their zip code, by their environment, by the conditions of where they're growing up, that's not okay. We can do better.
We can especially do better here in America, which is once again, the richest country in the history of the world. And we can learn from our peer countries. 70% of countries in the world have child allowances. We're the only country that doesn't have some sort of paid leave for families with newborns.
So, my goal is that this is really just the beginning of kind of a growing national awareness that we need to do better to take care of our littlest people, because really that's an investment in our nation.
Saliby: Dr. Mona Hanna runs the Rx Kids program. Thank you for joining me.
Hanna: Thanks for having me, Sophia.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
