New Rx Kids Program Funded by $16.5M in State Budget

Rx Kids, the nation’s first citywide prenatal and infant cash allowance program, receives approval of $16.5M from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant in the FY2024 Michigan budget to propel a healthy start for all Flint babies during the critical first year of life.

Michigan State University receives 1 of 42 grants awarded from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund. $500,000 will support Flint Rx Kids, the first citywide cash allowance program in the United States.

The 2023 Flint Lead Free report captures city-wide lead elimination efforts. Building upon previous years (2017 and 2021), this report features broad and proactive efforts to reduce environmental lead exposure, share progress made from new investments and strategic partnerships, demonstrate the positive impact of lead elimination, and highlight the excellent work of partners.

Thanks to an intended $15 million “challenge” grant from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Flint moms and babies could soon benefit from an innovative program that boldly tackles a root cause of health disparities – poverty. Rx Kids will be the first citywide program in the United States to address maternal and infant poverty with the novel approach of unconditional cash allowances to ALL City of Flint pregnant moms and babies. 

$15M NIH Award to Link Health Care and Justice Systems

Maternal mental health is a critical public health component of perinatal care and maternal safety. Postpartum depression can have lasting consequences for the mother, child, and family. After each birth, 1 in 7 women will experience postpartum depression.

We know that structural racism has far-reaching and enduring impacts on the built environment of neighborhoods and on the health of the people who live there. Structural racism both contributes to and is compounded by neighborhood disadvantage, the overconcentration of alcohol outlets, the incidence of firearm violence, the unequal redevelopment of urban areas via gentrification, and rates of childhood obesity.

Each year, the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior (SNEB) recognizes individuals or groups who have contributed significantly to creating and/or implementing policies or policy-based changes that support and positively impact the food and physical activity environment. The 2022 recipient of the Advisory Committee on Public Policy Health Promotion Policy Award is the Flint Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is enlisting experts and resources at Michigan State University to bolster the state’s fight against COVID, foodborne illnesses and more.

With three grants totaling more than $5 million, MSU and health care partners will help build up Michigan’s capacity to respond to the current pandemic and future pathogens. MDHHS created what it calls the Michigan Sequencing Academic Partnership for Public Health Innovation and Response, or MI-SAPPHIRE, with federal funding from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The goal of the program is to “address emerging disease threats and enhance the state’s ability to respond to those threats,” MDHHS announced.

The number of individuals released from state and federal prison has increased substantially in recent years. According to The Bureau of Justice Statistics, in the United States, about 5 million formerly incarcerated adults (returning citizens) are under community supervision (e.g. probation or parole) at any given time. And these returning citizens face numerous barriers—inadequate housing, poverty, unemployment, and lack of access to nutritious food and physical activity.

A team of MSU researchers seeks answers to understand the barriers to COVID-19 antibody testing and vaccinations in Flint. A research team collects data to understand which public health communication strategies are most effective. Volunteers from the Flint Registry drive up to a “Root beer stand-style” testing station; MSU will compare antibody status to COVID-19 exposure and vaccination rates among Flint residents using a salivary testing tool.