Written by Tanya Terry, with photos by Tanya Terry
The Inaugural Rx Kids Baby Parade took place on Tuesday, June 11- a “beautiful day for a baby parade,” which attendees learned has a rich tradition!
Attendees from within and outside of the city gathered to celebrate the launch of Rx Kids, a historic program that started in Flint to celebrate moms and babies.
Professor Luke Shaefer from the University of Michigan told the crowd about the history of baby parades, which began over 100 years ago.
“They had these amazing women who started the U.S. Children’s Bureau as the first federal agency to say: ‘We need to come alongside our families and our parents because the Health of the Child is the Power of the Nation.’ That was the motto. 1918 was called the Children’s Year. It was the year of the child. They had all sorts of great programs. They had all sorts of literature. They started beating the drum to protect infant and maternal health, and they had baby parades to celebrate babies and families, being a country that says: ‘We’re there with you.’
Rx Kids is the first-ever citywide cash prescription program for pregnant moms and babies. Rx Kids provides all pregnant moms in the city of Flint with no-strings-attached cash of $1,500 during pregnancy and $500 each month throughout a baby’s first year.
Mayor Sheldon Neeley was named the grand marshal of the event held for the program.
“In such a small time, Rx Kids has put Flint on the map for being the first and the leaders in this process- making sure we can provide to our most valuable residents-our children and our babies, the promise of tomorrow,” Neeley said. “Gandhi once said the worst form of violence is poverty. We have so many deserving families, giving kids a good start in life through this program, we look at these dollars. These dollars are an investment. We know that health outcomes are tied to economic status in our community.”
Also present at the event were Rx Kids Mom Angela Sintery who brought her baby Jo Jo Love. She said two weeks after applying for the program she was able to buy things for her baby she wouldn’t have otherwise been able to afford. According to Sintery, the money that comes in through Rx Kids helps tremendously with childcare and unexpected expenses.
Day Austin, GiveDirectly program associate, informed the crowd that GiveDirectly has now delivered over $1.6 million in cash to Rx Kids participants for mothers and their babies in Flint.
“That’s over 750 moms and babies who now have more options than they had before,” stated Austin.
Mondrae Murphy, a local videographer, told the Courier he is an Rx Kids dad. The program enabled his 3-month-old daughter Melaiya Murphy to get the special formula she needs after not being able to tolerate regular formula well.
“I didn’t have to pay for it out of my pocket,” he said.
Flint Rx Kids unveiled an image of a new Flint Public Art Project Rx Kids mural at the event that will be painted soon!
Muralist Johnny Fletcher, who is from Flint and currently resides in Grand Blanc, said the mural he is creating, which is expected to be completed in about two weeks on the back wall of the Buick Gallery, is an homage to 1918-1919 Year of the Child poster. He said, however, it will have a “Flint touch.”
The mural features kids.
“Some of them may be influenced by past photos from Rx Kids events incorporated into art,” Fletcher said. “It will be a nice touch to the community. The wall gets a lot of graffiti on it. So, it will stop that and it will be a bright, beautiful wall.”
Fletcher has created several murals throughout the city. Some of these murals include one at the parking ramp at Harrison and Kearsley for U of M- Flint, the robot mural on the back of Flint City Hard Cider and a mural for one of the festivals for Flint Public Art Project, which is a mural about kids using their imagination.
This will be Fletcher’s second mural with the Rx Kids project. The other one is at Atherton Road and 475. He hopes the murals will draw attention to the program.
Natalie Foster and Dorian Waren of the Economic Security Project also spoke at the event.
Rx Kids is led by Mona Hanna-Attisha, associate dean for public health in the College of Human Medicine and director of the Michigan State University-Hurley Children’s Hospital Pediatric Public Health Initiative.
Learn more about Rx Kids at https://flintrxkids.com/
