The New York State Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) wants nonprofits in Black, Brown, and any other communities disparately impacted by the drug war to apply for the Community Reinvestment Program grant by the May 13 deadline at 5 a.m. The fund stems from 40% of tax money collected by the state for legal marijuana sales. Awards range from $50,000 to $200,000 based on organization size. In total, the state plans on handing out $5 million.
“The focus is really community repair, after a history and legacy of racist and classist drug law enforcement,” said the fund’s director, Matthew Wilson, “it is, at some level, an effort at restitution and an effort at justice for communities that were disadvantaged because of drug laws, getting additional support.”
This application cycle marks the program’s second round and specifically focuses on “youth-serving initiatives” for participants age 24 and under through five specific focus areas: mental health, workforce development, housing, harm reduction, and substance-use disorder services. Applicants must be a 501(c)3 non-profit with in-state services.
Wilson recommends those interested in applying to start now. He points to resources on the process available at https://cannabis.ny.gov/prospective-grantees. Materials range from tutorial videos to priority area maps, although those operating outside identified zip codes can still apply and explain how the drug war impacted their service areas.
“Our priority is to reinvest in those communities that were most harmed in the drug war,” said Wilson. “We have created a database that looks at the cannabis arrest rates across the state and identifies the specific census tracks where the cannabis arrest rate was significantly higher than the state average. When you apply to the fund, we actually ask applicants to go to that map and identify the specific communities disproportionately affected that they plan to serve.
Applicants also need Statewide Financial System prequalification, a separate requirement for anyone receiving grant funding from New York state. Last cycle, roughly 80 applications were not pre-qualified and therefore could not be reviewed.
OCM awarded 50 organizations last year in the inaugural class with a sizable disbursement in the New York City area. Around $2.6 million went towards mental health services while workforce development-centric projects received around $1.9 million, and housing-related programs took home a total $500,000.
Kassandra White, a spokesperson for Gov. Kathy Hochul, says the state hopes people will apple. “Governor Hochul has been a champion for the growth of New York’s equitable, multibillion-dollar cannabis industry,” she said. “The State’s Community Reinvestment Grant Fund is about providing resources to communities that were disproportionately harmed by prior drug laws, and giving back to those communities to uplift them and provide positive and impactful opportunities. The State encourages organizations to apply and open more doors for New Yorkers statewide.”
The money simply comes from tax money collected from adult-use cannabis sales but does not need any connection to marijuana (although pitches for helping young adults break into the cannabis retail workforce are welcome).
“The only connection this fund has to cannabis, in terms of the money, is that it originates out of the tax revenue of adult use cannabis sales,” said Wilson. “40% of adult use cannabis tax revenue comes to this fund. What we do with the money doesn’t have to have anything to do with cannabis whatsoever.”