MARIJUANA & ECONOMIC JUSTICE
SACRAMENTO, CA - Here’s a MAJOR VICTORY alert! Last night (August 9, 2018) the Sacramento City Council unanimously approved the implementation plan for the Cannabis Opportunity, Reinvestment and Equity Program (CORE). The approved CORE proposal is the result of an initiative led by the California Urban Partnership (in collaboration with Youth Forward and Public Health Advocates), informed and supported by over 20 local grassroots CBO’s, and backed by hundreds of Sacramento activists and residents over a 1.5 year period of policy research, legal analysis, public education, fundraising, community organizing, advocacy and extensive policy negotiations.
The purpose of the CORE program is to ensure that populations most harmed by marijuana arrests and jail sentences are able to participate and benefit in the Sacramento region’s $4 billion legal marijuana industry. In addition to a City investment of $1M for technical assistance to help qualified participants get through a very difficult application process, CORE entrepreneurs will get connected to:
1. Business application processing at no cost (compared to an $8K to $40K range).
2. Fully equipped business operating space at no charge for 2 years, or greatly reduced rent for 4 years.
3. Opportunities to contract with major marijuana companies who must buy no less than 51% of their direct marijuana products and services from CORE participants in order to get priority processing. This includes buying 51% of their business support services (like construction, graphic design, accounting, etc.) from CORE eligible populations.
4. Pathways to obtain a 33% ownership share in major marijuana companies.
5. Priority for new retail store licenses (which currently have no Black or Latino ownership).
The CORE program’s priority processing rules require that 30% of the workforce be people linked to negative impacts of the Drug War – such as arrests and poverty. The approved CORE program provides for continued monitoring and quarterly progress reports, expansion of neighborhoods that qualify, and ways to improve the success of CORE participants on an ongoing basis. The City has committed to a goal of awarding fifty (50) percent of all cannabis business licenses to CORE eligible participants.
Of course, there's much more hard work STILL LEFT TO DO! The California Urban Partnership wishes to extend our deepest gratitude to all of our allies and funders for your leadership, PARTNERSHIP and continued support.