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Rx Kids Cash Allowance Pilot

Michigan State University

www.msu.edu

  • Program Flint Area
  • Program Area Meeting Evolving Community Needs
  • Grant Amount $5,000,000
  • Grant Period May 1, 2023–April 30, 2026
  • Location East Lansing, MI, United States
  • Geographic Focus Flint

About this grant

Michigan State University will partner with University of Michigan and Give Directly to implement and research the impact of an innovative prenatal and infant cash allowance initiative that seeks to advance health equity by proactively addressing maternal and infant economic instability. Rx Kids leans on the science of early childhood and the life-long consequences of exposure to early adversity. The pilot program aims to fill a scientific gap in health disparities research with a community-level disruption of poverty before and during early childhood, when it is most prevalent and most toxic. Through Rx Kids, expectant mothers in Flint will receive a one-time prenatal cash transfer of $1,500, and all infants will receive monthly allowances of $500 per month in their first year of life. The initiative will impact approximately 1,200 Flint mothers and their newborns per year.