New York State officials are preparing to deploy up to $5 million in grants funded by marijuana tax revenue as part of an effort to reinvest in areas disproportionately impacted by the the war on drugs. The state’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) says the awards aim “to redress a wide range of community needs—from housing to childcare to job skills training and many areas in between.”
Under state law, 40 percent of all cannabis tax revenue is earmarked for community reinvestment, targeting “areas of the state that have been historically under-resourced, underserved, and over-policed,” OCM said on a page posted to its website last week.
The $5 million in grant money—to be divided into individual awards of $100,000—will focus in its initial round on providing services to young people, from newborns to 24 year olds, and will fall into at least one of three areas: mental health, workforce development and housing.
“Organizations do NOT have to be affiliated with any cannabis-related businesses or activities to apply,” an OCM overview of the program, which will be overseen by the state’s Cannabis Advisory Board, makes clear.
“The Community Reinvestment Program issues grants to communities disproportionately affected by prior federal and state drug policies in order to redress a wide range of community needs—from housing to childcare to job skills training and many areas in between.”
Applications for the grants will be available later this year, with a request for applications expected to be released this fall, OCM said. In the meantime, interested organizations can begin work on prequalification applications available at a state website.
“Due to the length of time it can take to complete this process (typically 5-10 business days, but sometimes longer), it is advised that interested nonprofits prequalify as soon as possible,” the office said.
Awardees will receive the funds over a two-year period, with a portion being disbursed in a one-time advance payment and remaining funds distributed via quarterly “reimbursement-based vouchering.”
“To ensure limited resources are available to areas of the State where funding can have the most impact,” the program page says, “the 2024 grant cycle aims to prioritize funding to counties identified as high-need for youth-oriented services and as historically under-resourced and overpoliced. Additionally, OCM and the Cannabis Advisory Board intend to make at least one award within each Empire State Development (ESD) Region to ensure geographic distribution of awards across the State.”
Announcement of the forthcoming reinvestment grants comes just weeks after New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) touted the state’s “smokin’ hot” marijuana sales numbers as the market reached an “all-time high” of over half a billion dollars in legal cannabis purchases since adult-use retailers launched in late 2022.
New York has seen about $370 million in purchases this year, as of numbers released last month. Combined with last year’s total of about $160 million, that brings the net sum to roughly $530 million since the state’s market launched in December 2022.
The governor and regulators are attributing the growth, at least in part, to their efforts to stamp out illicit operators and expand the licensed marketplace. Hochul said in June that the state’s escalated enforcement actions against illicit marijuana shops is resulting in a significant increase in legal sales at licensed retailers.
The governor made the comments amid criticism from equity-focused activists over what they see as a “corporate takeover” of the cannabis market, citing reporting about the administration dismissing concerns from state officials about a “predatory” private equity loan deal the state approved to provide funding for startup cannabis retailers.
Certain advocates say Hochul has “falsely” blamed the legalization law itself for the state’s troubles with the illicit market, without taking responsibility for the administration’s role. To that end, there has been criticism of the governor’s ousting of Chris Alexander as executive director of OCM earlier this year.
In an attempt to rein in unlicensed sales, the governor in February called on big tech companies such as Google and Meta to “do the right thing” by taking steps to stop promoting illicit marijuana shops, which have proliferated across the state.
Meanwhile, New York officials are rolling out a broad plan to encourage environmental sustainability and set energy use standards within the state’s legal marijuana industry. It’s part of regulators’ broader goal of promoting economic, environmental and social sustainability in the emerging sector.
In June, state regulators also formally approved rules to allow adults 21 and older to grow their own cannabis plants for personal use.
A top New York lawmaker also introduced a bill in June to legalize psilocybin for adults, provided they obtain a permit after undergoing a health screening and educational course.
As for other social equity efforts around the state’s legal cannabis program, two state senators recently called for an investigation of the state’s marijuana social equity fund, saying loans to qualifying dispensary owners left them “trapped” in “predatory deals.” The program was announced in 2022 and created a $200 million public-private fund to specifically help promote social equity in the state’s cannabis industry.
Across the country, California officials in June awarded another round of community reinvestment grants to nonprofits and local health departments, funded by marijuana tax revenue. The Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) announced the recipients of over $41 million in awards, the sixth round of cannabis-funded California Community Reinvestment Grants (CalCRG) under the state program. In March, officials awarded $12 million in marijuana tax-funded grants to cities across the state to support equity programs for people disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs.
And in Illinois last month, officials announced that they’re awarding $35 million in grants to 88 local organizations, using funds generated from taxes on adult-use marijuana sales to support community reinvestment efforts.
The funding is being offered through the state’s Restore, Reinvest, Renew (R3) Program that was established under Illinois’s 2019 legalization law. It requires 25 percent of cannabis tax revenue to support areas most harmed by the “disproportionate damaged caused by the war on drugs,” the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA) said.
Since launching the R3 program, Illinois has awarded over $244 million in marijuana revenue-funded grants to that end.
Read OCM’s overview of the newly announced grant program below:
New York State officials are preparing to deploy up to $5 million in grants funded by marijuana tax revenue as part of an effort to reinvest in areas disproportionately impacted by the the war on drugs. The state’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) says the awards aim “to redress a wide range of community needs—from Read More