A direct cash assistance program for new parents pioneered in Flint last year could get a statewide expansion with its own state budget allocation under a new bill working through the state Senate.

Co-founded by Dr. Mona Hanna, the Genesee County pediatrician who played a key role in sounding the alarm on the Flint water crisis, Rx Kids gives $1,500 to parents during pregnancy and $500 each month for either the first six or 12 months of the baby's life, depending on the amount of funding the program raises in each specific community where it operates.

The founders of Rx Kids, which officially started last year, say the program targets the time period when families tend to face the most poverty, because of leaving work to give birth, scant paid family leave and the expenses of having a ch

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