Black and Brown entrepreneurs will learn about “joint ventures” — and perhaps enter into one — with the help of a marijuana “manifesto” that’s in the works.
That manifesto — a practical translation of and guide to Connecticut’s 300-paged legislation legalizing adult-use marijuana — is one of numerous initiatives of the Alliance for Cannabis Equity (ACE), a new partnership aimed at supporting minority business owners and workers interested in joining the state’s most highly anticipated upcoming new industry.
The Connecticut Community Outreach Revitalization Program (ConnCORP) and The WorkPlace, two organizations that work to strengthen economic and workforce development by providing “opportunities to underserved residents,” announced and described their collaboration on this project Tuesday at ConnCorp’s headquarters on Newhall Street in Hamden.
“For far too long, the creativity, ingenuity, and resourcefulness of this community has not been fully realized,” stated Carlton Highsmith, ConnCORP’s board chair. “The legalization of cannabis introduces a brand new growth industry of Connecticut. Hundreds if not thousands of new jobs will be created; dozens of new businesses will be formed; and millions if not billions of dollars of wealth created.”
Joseph Carbone, president and CEO of The WorkPlace, noted that the cannabis industry is producing the “fastest growing jobs in this country,” with “strong wages” that have the capacity to lift disenfranchised individuals into the “middle class part of America,” create careers rather than just “jobs,” and redress the “wrongs of the past.”
Highsmith credited the cannabis law for setting the intention to “ensure that Black and Brown communities that have been adversely impacted by disparates of law enforcement policies over the decades not be left behind, but also benefit from this new industry.” ConnCORP’s alliance with The WorkPlace, he said, is about helping to cultivate that intention into a reality from the front end to the back end of cannabis cultivation, distribution, marketing, communications, and so on.
The law itself allows for the expungement of past cannabis-related crimes and reserves half of all cannabis business licenses for people from neighborhoods that were deemed to be most impacted by the War on Drugs. Plus, up to 75 percent of the revenue from cannabis sales will be dedicated to a new “equity fund” which will be invested in those neighborhoods.
The state developed a Social Equity Council to oversee, monitor, and facilitate the technicalities of such elements of the legislation. For example, that council voted on August 5 of this year to determine which neighborhoods were most significantly affected by the criminalization of cannabis.
In alignment with those components of the new law, ACE will match aspiring Black and Brown entrepreneurs with “trusted advisors,” provide them with free, individualized business counseling, and connect them with training and workforce development opportunities provided by The WorkPlace.
The ACE Manifesto will serve as the foundation for the alliance’s efforts, the crew agreed. Once it’s published, those present at Tuesday’s press conference said, they will host “community listening and information sharing sessions” to bring interested parties together and link them with necessary resources. They also said they make the manifesto available to interested policy makers who may use it to continue crafting financial implementation tools to benefit individuals of color entering the cannabis business.
“This is, one, about jobs; two, this is about business; three, this is about wealth; four, this is about equity; and, five, this is about restorative justice,” said Dr. Fred McKinney, the founder of the diverse business development consulting company BJM Solutions. He was chosen by ACE to compose a draft of the manifesto. He said the new partnership aims to supplmeent the work of the Social Equity Council, not replace it.
Andrea Comer, the committee chairwoman of the Social Equity Council, also attended the event. “We know the Social Equity Council, all 14 members and I, cannot do it on our own,” she told the audience. “We cannot do it in isolation. So having opportunity for partnerships like this is just going to further our commitment to equity.”
The council, along with the Departments of Labor, Economic and Community Development, and Workforce Strategies, are also currently tasked with creating a comprehensive workforce plan. “There’s no one lane for that,” Comer said. She is arranging to meet with capital workforce partners, community colleges, and any community based organizations that are willing to collaborate; ACE may play an important role in forging those connections.
License distributions will work through a lottery system; after applicants are selected through the lottery, the Social Equity Council decides if the chosen applicants qualify. In December, Comer said the council will start parsing out possible income and residency requirements as well as business verifications that will determine which applicants ultimately receive licenses.
McKinney noted that the manifesto should assist its target audience of potential entrepreneurs — as well as policy makers — in determining answers to questions like “What is a good, workable and understandable joint venture?” especially since many individuals applying for these licenses will need to partner with financial backers in order to start off their businesses.
The council may use those guidelines to inform their selection process. The goal, Comer said, is to make sure that the “social equity applicant that’s coming forward with this partner actually has an ownership stake in it… cause what we don’t want is predatory establishments. What we don’t want is frontmen.”
McKinney illustrated the current moment around cannabis — including its natural risks and possibilities — by pointing out that a multi-state cannabis company closed one deal and signed two more this month to acquire three more firms with marijuana dispensaries as well as a cultivation facility in Connecticut. In particular, the company purchased Connecticut Pharmaceutical Solutions’ cultivation and production facility in Rocky Hill, an acquisition that included $113.25 million in voting shares.
“That tells you that the licenses that will be granted in a lottery process are extremely valuable… If the entrepreneurs that wanna start these businesses do not have the support, the capital, the management support, the community support, they will be operating behind the eight-ball,” McKinney said.
“Opportunity waits for us out there,” Carbone summarized. “It’s our job to seize the moment.”
posted by: THREEFIFTHS on November 23, 2021 6:13pm
“For far too long, the creativity, ingenuity, and resourcefulness of this community has not been fully realized,” stated Carlton Highsmith, ConnCORP’s board chair. “The legalization of cannabis introduces a brand new growth industry of Connecticut. Hundreds if not thousands of new jobs will be created; dozens of new businesses will be formed; and millions if not billions of dollars of wealth created.”
Are you kidding.The legalization of cannabis when it comes to Recreational Marijuana is the new oppressor of Black people.Read the History.They give Recreational whiskey to the Indians.You see When the white man introduced whiskey to the plains native in the mid-1800s, it had a sudden, devastating effect on a deep-rooted way of life..In fact a Whiskey trader name W.C. Gladstone described the trading ritual.Every Indian was given a dram of fire water, by way of a starter. Speech making followed, washed down by another dram, then another drink, until every man jack of them had absorbed five drams and was ripe for business. The weeks trade left us with 600 horses and our warehouses very nearly filled.The whiskey was made from distilled alcohol mixed with chewing tobacco, red pepper, soap, molasses and red ink and it was labeled “Whoop-Up juice.” It was cheaply made, highly addictive and provided huge profits for the fur traders.Within three years, the whiskey trade brought more destruction to the plains natives than a hundred years of tribal warfare.Trust me.The same destruction will happen Black people with Recreational Marijuana .
My friend.NY State Assemblyman Charles Barron said it well. I just don’t see how the recreational use of marijuana is good for revolution.
https://blackagendareport.com/reefer-legalization-not-good-revolution-says-new-york-lawmaker
posted by: SIXTYPERCENT on November 24, 2021 7:46am
THREEFIFTHS: In 2012, Washington and Colorado became the first two states to legalize recreational use of marijuana, and several other states have since followed. That means we have up to 9 years of history to reflect on to validate whether your theory of ruin and your analogy to whiskey for the Native Americans has proven correct. If it were, then I think 9 years would have been a long enough time for those effects to have manifested themselves. Have we seen such destruction to the race due to legalization in those states? The laws are what they are now, and I think it’s reasonable business sense to educate Black and Brown people in the community to capitalize on ANY potential new business opportunity. If there’s anything that the last 9 years have shown, it’s that full legalization has proven to be an extremely lucrative business for those that entered quickly in those states. Why would we oppose teaching our people how to better themselves, and by virtue, their surrounding communities?
posted by: THREEFIFTHS on November 24, 2021 10:49am
posted by: SIXTYPERCENT on November 24, 2021 7:46am
THREEFIFTHS: In 2012, Washington and Colorado became the first two states to legalize recreational use of marijuana, and several other states have since followed. That means we have up to 9 years of history to reflect on to validate whether your theory of ruin and your analogy to whiskey for the Native Americans has proven correct.
Sorry.This is not a theory.It is a fact and History.In fact studies show that liquor stores was put in the poor and neighborhoods with high concentrations of African-Americans They have significantly greater than average numbers of liquor stores. You remember the 40-ounce bottles of malt liquor in coolers, and storefront ads promoting malt liquor in African-American communities.
Like I said Recreational Marijuana is the new oppressor of Black people.It will be used to sedate and control Black people.I know some young black people now who are smoking weed all day and playing Playing X Box all day and as far as
The Sleazy and Spectacular History of Malt Liquor
https://www.thrillist.com/drink/nation/malt-liquor-history-sleazy
You said.
That means we have up to 9 years of history to reflect on to validate whether your theory of ruin and your analogy to whiskey for the Native Americans has proven correct.
Sounds Like that 9 years was history of profits.Did they do any type of study on the affects it has on the people?
NY State Assemblyman Charles Barron said it well
“I just don’t see how the recreational use of marijuana is good for revolution.” Barron predicts we will soon see “an alcohol store on one corner, a cannabis store on the next corner, a murder burger store on another corner, and a funeral home on the fourth corner.”
Like I said Recreational Marijuana is the new oppressor of Black people.It will be used to sedate and control Black people.I know some young black people now who are smoking weed all day and playing X Box all day
Part One
posted by: THREEFIFTHS on November 24, 2021 11:13am
Part Two
You said
If there’s anything that the last 9 years have shown, it’s that full legalization has proven to be an extremely lucrative business for those that entered quickly in those states. Why would we oppose teaching our people how to better themselves, and by virtue, their surrounding communities?
There are many lucrative business that black people can open up other then a cannabis.How many Black Locksmiths do you Have?
Speaking of lucrative business Check out who is waiting in the wings.
Good Old Monsanto
Corporate Cannabis: One-Hitter or Here to Stay?
“It’s not legalization, it’s monopolization
posted by: Heather C. on November 24, 2021 7:08pm
Marijuana has never been difficult to access when it was illegal. The only difference between illegal marijuana sales and legal and regulated marijuana sales is that
1. you will know that your marijuana is pure and unadulterated, and hopefully be able to know how strong it’s THC content is, and that it will not be contaminated with other drugs or chemicals.
2. Black and Brown people will no longer be disproportionately incarcerated for possessing or selling marijuana in a legal venue or eventually for growing marijuana plants for their personal use.
3. It will no longer be part of a illegal economy, putting many Black and Brown and poor people into an early grave with the violence associated with the illegal selling of marijuana and the gangs associated with its sale and distribution.
4. Prohibition does nothing much in the way of curbing drug use, but education and regulation can help deter users and encourage responsible use.
5. If the federal government reclassifies marijuana and magic mushrooms and ecstasy and other illegal drugs for research purposes, then scientists can research their medicinal value and its use in ptsd, anxiety and depression, restoring appetite and reducing pain in chronically ill and cancer and pain patients. There has been some very promising research on magic mushrooms and ecstasy for ptsd and anxiety and depression treatment and for cocaine related drug addiction and alcoholism. Marijuana has had some promising research for opioid addiction.
While Marijuana use in people under the age of 25 are particularly vulnerable to schizo-affective disorder, and it isn’t great for you to smoke anything because of lung damage, and nobody should drive or operate machinery under the influence of substances, there are similar concerns about alcohol or tobacco or vaping, so we regulate them. We should allow scientists to study these drugs and then regulate them with laws for best usage practices based in facts, not in conjecture.
Credit: Source link