Warren Evans announces program to curb childhood poverty for cities in Wayne County
The two-year effort, called Rx Kids, would offer $1,500 to pregnant mothers during pregnancy and another $500 a month for the first six months after birth. Rx Kids is already operating in Flint, Kalamazoo and the Eastern Upper Peninsula.
It was among the initiatives touted by Evans to curb childhood poverty, aid families and 'keep Wayne County healthy.' Another aims to ensure seniors and schoolchildren get access to fresh fruit and vegetables and a nonprofit partnership will offer students access to on-the-spot eye exams and prescription eyeglasses.
"Too often, in speeches, there's a lot of talk about a vision for the future. That's fine, I guess, as long as that forecast is based in reality," Evans told a packed crowd at Woodhaven High School in Brownstown Township during his 10th State of the County address. "In other words, don't promise what you can't deliver. In our case, there's plenty of good news, not only about what we've accomplished, but about what's coming."
Here are some key takeaways from Evan's 2025 speech:
Evans said the county is working with Flint pediatrician Dr. Mona Hanna and Luke Shaefer, who heads up the University of Michigan's Poverty Solutions initiative, to launch a two-year expansion of Rx Kids to parts of Wayne County.
'The program, launched first in Flint, is making a real dent in child poverty,' he said. 'The same thing can happen for us here in Wayne County.'
The program would start in the next couple months, Evans told reporters after his speech.
"I think the (Wayne County) Commission is at its final approval. It's why it took this long and so we should be starting very soon. I'm really optimistic about what it will do. I think there's skeptics around that think just the dispensation of the money is problematic. I'm not one of those," he said.
Evans, in his speech, said the program would expand 'to several Downriver communities," and later clarified that it wouldn't just be restricted to that area.
"Pending Commission approval, targeted launch areas for Rx Kids will include River Rouge, Inkster, Highland Park, Melvindale, and other high-need Wayne County communities, based on economic challenges and health disparities," said Kennyle Johnson, interim director of Wayne County's department of health, human and veterans services in a statement Thursday morning.
The program won't be available across Wayne County, however, because of limited resources, Evans told reporters Wednesday. Detroit would not be included in the program, he said.
Rx Kids, which began in Flint more than a year ago, recently kicked off in Kalamazoo and five counties in the eastern U.P. The program is also expected to launch in Pontiac this May.
Evans also pointed to an effort under the banner of the county's 'Well Wayne 2025' plan that is bringing relief to residents who he said for too long have had to choose between the need for adequate healthcare and the burden of medical debt.
Roughly 300,000 residents across Wayne County have unaffordable medical debt, he said, ranking the county eighth among all counties in the nation. Last year, the county collaborated with the national nonprofit Undue Medical Debt to wipe out $27 million in debt for 46,000 county residents.
"Tonight, I'm happy to announce that since then, we've helped an additional 24,000 residents, wiping out an additional $13 million dollars in medical debt. That's 70,000 residents and $40 million dollars already. Our goal is to erase it all, and we have certified the funds to do it," he said.
More: Program to erase medical debt in Wayne Co. shows insured workers may be struggling most
Evans emphasized the importance of transit for residents who can't afford a car and to attract young professionals and families to the region.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a bill earlier this year ensuring that Wayne County communities could no longer opt out of the transit millage funding the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART), the bus system for southeast Michigan. This opens the door for a countywide transit proposal on the ballot, Evans said.
"This is a defining moment," Evans said. "The voters will have the final say in 2026, and this administration will be doing everything we can to keep people in a position to understand why this is so important. I believe this is the first time, probably in Wayne County's history, that every community — regardless of size — will have a seat at the table to offer input as we create a transit plan.'
Evans also used the speech to cite the accomplishments of his administration over the past year, including preparing the county for weather-related emergencies, handling hazardous waste coming from out of state and construction projects.
There'd be "shovels in the ground next week," he said, for the Allen Road Grade Separation Project, an effort to ease traffic delays from a rail crossing on Allen Road in the city of Woodhaven. The project will lower the road, which will be dedicated to vehicles, and build a bridge above the road for the train.
That was welcome news for Republican state Rep. Jamie Thompson, of Brownstown, whose district includes Woodhaven. The train affects her daily, she said. She was excited to hear about the groundbreaking and said she would hold officials to it.
"What ends up happening in this area is, if you get stopped by any of those trains, any four of them, you're stuck for 45 minutes. You have no way around, because no matter which way you go, there's another train. So, it's been a huge issue for a very long time," she said.
She said she appreciated that Evans delivered his annual address Downriver because the community often 'gets lost in the shuffle' and doesn't get as much attention as other major cities, she said.
Wayne County, made up of 43 cities and townships, is home to nearly 1.8 million people, according to 2020 Census estimates. The county saw a population increase of about 9,000 in the last year, Evans said. That's the first time since 2018 that Wayne County added residents, the Free Press reported last month.
Detroit Free Press staff writer Clara Hendrickson contributed to this report.
Contact Nushrat Rahman: nrahman@freepress.com. Follow her on X: @NushratR.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Cash aid program for new moms coming to Wayne County
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