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Rx Kids, the cash prescription program for expectant mothers and newborns that has shown to improve health and well-being for enrollees through direct financial assistance, announced its largest planned expansion this week.

In a video announcement featuring Governor Gretchen Whitmer and stakeholders from across the state, the program announced it will expand to 20 new communities this summer. This expansion builds on growing momentum across Michigan and reflects a historic bipartisan investment to bring Rx Kids to more families.

Rx Kids began in Flint in 2024 and is now operating in 42 Michigan communities across urban and rural parts of the state, including recent launches in Detroit and the entire Upper Peninsula. This summer’s expansion will bring Rx Kids to more than 60 communities statewide, reaching over 23,000 births each year. See a full list of the communities included in the planned expansion here.

Although Rx Kids has had bipartisan support, some in House Republican leadership have voiced criticism of the program and the House-proposed version of the FY '27 budget removed $20 million in TANF funds earmarked for Rx Kids. Loss of this funding will put the expansion of Rx Kids in jeopardy and halt the progress being seen in the communities the program currently serves.

Join MCMCH in advocating for Rx Kids in the FY '27 state budget. The Rx Kids website has dashboards for every community currently in the program, and detailed information on the surveys enrollees participate in, showing strong outcomes, including:

• earlier and more consistent prenatal care, including in the first trimester 

• more frequent prenatal visits

• reduced smoking during pregnancy, a key driver of poor birth outcomes 

• improved birth outcomes, including healthier birth weights, less premature babies and a prevention of NICU admissions  

• more pediatric visits with 96% say their infant attended at least one pediatric appointment

• improved housing stability, including paying rent on time and preventing eviction

• improved food access, with Rx Kids moms being more likely to have enough of the kinds of foods they want to eat

• greater diaper security, the most frequently reported area of spending in participant surveys—reducing stress and preventing difficult tradeoffs between baby needs, food and housing

• better job preparation with 30% of surveyed participants indicating the payments from Rx Kids helped them get a higher-paying job or start a business. In addition, 27% of Rx Kids moms are working on their GED, doing job training, and/or attending school.

You can learn even more in the webinar below and you can use this thank you postcard as a great way to communicate quickly with legislators about your support for RxKids and thank them for their past -- and future -- support.

Real negotiations between the House and Senate on the FY '27 budget likely will begin in earnest following the May 15 Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference. Add your voice in support of Rx Kids. Find your state Representative here and state Senator here.