Long Beach will be receiving a $1.2 million state grant funding to continue supporting its cannabis equity program, which buoys equitable ways for people to get into the cannabis industry.
The City Council approved to continue the city’s agreement with the California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) in receiving grant funds for the program to start April 1 to Oct. 31, 2026.
In 2018, the Long Beach Cannabis Equity Program was established to support equitable opportunities in the local cannabis industry by making legal cannabis business ownership and employment opportunities more accessible to individuals negatively impacted by the prior criminalization of cannabis in the city, according to the staff report.
Support through the program includes access to resources such as direct technical assistance, grants, fee waivers, expedited application review, cultivation tax deferrals, and reduced taxes.
Under the California Cannabis Equity Act, GO-Biz administers the cannabis equity grants program for local jurisdictions to support equity program efforts. From 2019 to 2024, a total of $110 million in grants have been awarded across the state, according to the staff report.
Long Beach has received a total of $8.3 million in grants from the state, ranging from $1.1 million to $3.2 million annually, officials said.
GO-Biz requires 80% of the city’s total grant funds to be redistributed to equity applicants in the form of direct grants; and the remaining 20% is split evenly between administrative and direct technical assistance costs.
“The grant will help our cannabis equity program tremendously,” said Valencia Romero, manager of the Office of Cannabis Oversight. “It helps fund the direct grants program where we support equity businesses, or equity applicants as we refer to them, who are trying to start a cannabis business in Long Beach.”
“This year the funding will significantly help our eight dispensary equity applicants,” she added. “These are the folks that were selected through a competitive process to open a storefront dispensary in Long Beach.”
This grant – which the city council approved during its March 11 meeting – will be used to assist equity applicants with startup costs, including rent/lease payments, local licensing and regulatory fees, legal assistance, regulatory compliance, capital improvements, furniture, fixtures, and equipment, according to the staff report.
“The other two areas that will cover this grant, there’s a small portion of about 20% between the two of them and 10% will cover direct technical assistance and so this is the consultants that we have on board that provide different areas of expertise, such as lease negotiation, regulatory compliance and they work directly with our equity applicants as they’re making it through the licensing process,” Romero said. “The other area covers staffing costs associated with running the program.”
In addition, the grant will help continue funding a portion of one full-time employee responsible for administering the program, and direct technical assistance vendors who provide educational resources and one-on-one advisory services in the areas of site location and lease negotiations, financial assistance, and regulatory compliance.
This year’s grant also requires local jurisdictions, such as Long Beach, to match or in-kind service mandate for grant funds received that exceeds the first $500,000, which the city meets by utilizing the value of the wages and benefits of city staff administering the program. This is required due to the continued increase in the number of local equity programs each year, according to the staff report.
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