Written by Tanya Terry, with photos by Mars Woodbury
Featured photo: Alana Turner and her children Oakland and Ace. Turner is one of the many Flint women who have benefitted from the Rx Kids program.
Flint Resident Alana Turner is one of many Flint moms who has benefitted from the Rx Kids program, which she described as being like getting a “hug from your community.”
Turner informed the Courier that her daughter, Oakland, is 8 months old now. Her son, Ace, is 5 years old.
“My biggest hardship with Ace is I had to go back to work five weeks postpartum,” she shared. “There was no option. I had to go back. My position was at risk, and I was asked to come back to work-or rather told to come back or risk my position being posted. I didn’t have a choice. I didn’t have a lifeline to count on, or any other support that was doing cash assistance. I had to leave my five-week-old baby and go back to work.”
Turner told the Courier her mother and aunt watched Ace while she went to work.
Turner said her biggest complication during that pregnancy was that mentally there was a sense of trauma around leaving her five-week-old baby and having to get into the workforce.
She shared: “On top of that, I was breastfeeding. So, my biggest struggle physically was the fact I had to pump-when I was exclusively breastfeeding-I had to pump like every three hours at the beginning. It was something new for me. First child, so first experience breastfeeding. It was hard to manage and make sure that I was comfortable and that he had enough milk. It was a lot mentally. It was stressful, overwhelming…but it was what I had to do.”
As part of the Rx Kids program, Turner was provided a $1,500 cash prescription as pregnant woman and is being provided $500 a month for each month of her baby’s first year.
The program has led to a drop in evictions, improvement in maternal mental health and well-being and reduced food insecurity, according to Michigan State University, Charles Stewart Mott Department of Public Health. Mothers are also reporting being prepared to weather financial shocks like car troubles.

“With Oakland, I at least had some type of lifeline that helped me provide when I wasn’t working as much,” stated Turner. “I was able to take the full time needed to recover physically and mentally, and bond with my baby and not have to worry so much about getting back into a full-time position right now in order to make ends meet.”
Research shows Rx Kids program participants as a whole are more financially secure, have improved access to healthcare services, and are better able to provide basic necessities for their babies on the program’s one-year anniversary.
The Rx Kids Participant Survey was administered by Rx Kids partner, GiveDirectly and conducted in May 2024. The survey gathered responses from over 112 findings. It showed: 70% of participants reported an annual income of less than $10,000, 80% of participants in Rx Kids said the program helped them make ends meet and feel more secure in their finances, 59% report Rx Kids made it easier to get the health care that their household needs, 72% report Rx Kids helped improve the health of themselves and their infants and 80% report the money from Rx Kids has helped them become more confident as parents.
Turner has celebrated the programs at Rx Kids events in the past and plans to attend for Rx Kid’s First Birthday Bash. It takes place from 1-4 p.m. on Wednesday, January 29. The bash is to feature cake, art activities, a photo booth and more! Turner pointed out there have already been several Rx Kids events.
“Both my kids were able to attend the Mother’s Day event, and I still have the art they made on the wall in our house,” said Turner. “It always feels like we’re being supported. It feels like a hug from your community. You don’t get that feeling in a lot of places as a new mom…I think Oakland was only a couple months for that Mother’s Day event, and I was like: ‘Yeah, we’re still going to go’ because it always feels good to be surrounded by people that really care about you and what you’re going through.”
To learn more, visit visit RxKids.org.