Social Equity

House Committee Passes MORE Act to Decriminalize Marijuana

louis-velazquez-XWW746i6WoM-unsplash.jpg

According to CBS News, The House Judiciary Committee approved a bill today, November 20th, 2019, that would federally decriminalize marijuana. The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2019, or MORE Act, passed 24-10 after more than two hours of debate. It now heads to the full House.

The bill would remove marijuana from the list of federally controlled substances, allow states to set their own marijuana policy and require federal courts to expunge prior convictions for marijuana offenses. A 5% tax on marijuana products would also establish a trust fund for programs designed to help people disproportionately impacted by the "war on drugs," including job training and treatment for substance abuse.

The Associated Press points out if the measure comes up for a vote in the full House, its chances are better in the Democratic-controlled chamber than in the Republican-held Senate, where the bill's future is uncertain.

Visit CBS News for more from this article.

Ready to invest in our company? Learn more at https://republic.co/growing-talent.

Cannabis Needs More Black & Brown Professionals: Prioritize Your Diversity Programs

46605656422_55b9e490e6_z.jpg

As we have stated before, cannabis is suffering a major diversity program where black people, immigrants, minorities, people with disabilities, and women are severely under-represented in cannabis.

Growing Talent seeks to change this by offering our Social Equity Incubator to black and brown professionals who are eager to grow their business, gain education, and contribute to a more diverse cannabis industry.

Our organization is all about social equity. We believe that all people within society have the same status, which includes civil rights, equal access, and equal opportunities. We believe cannabis should include the whole society, and be representative of the fabrics of backgrounds, races, religions, languages, and ethnicities that have woven together to become America.

Be the cannabis business who makes a dent in the statistics be taking on some of these proactive strategies for creating a diverse workforce:

Pay Attention to the Statistics

Cannabis is all about data, and providing the market with insightful reports on diversity and employment gaps. MJBizDaily releases a Women & Minorities report that shows a snapshot of current diversity within the industry. Also, paying attention to cannabis-related job board sites like Vangst will gain you access to up-to-date statistics that shows where you need to push further in your diversity strategy.

Vangst recently released a salary and jobs guide that indicated the tremendous amount of growth, to the tune of 690%, of jobs in the cannabis industry just between 2017 and 2018. What was the one area that Vangst identified needed improvement? Diversity, of course.

“Given the industry is so young, current businesses and influencers in the space have the opportunity to build the cannabis industry into the most inclusive industry in the world,” said Vangst CEO Karson Humiston to Green Market Report, “Cannabis businesses need to build diversity recruiting programs and prioritize building highly diverse companies from the start. While we are seeing many companies do this well, there is room for improvement.”

Reach Out to Community Groups

America is one of the most diverse countries in the world, with 16.9% of the population being Latino/Hispanic; 12.6% being black; 5.2% being Asian, and 2.3% being considered mixed ethnicity. 62% of the U.S. population are white.

Community groups serve to create sub communities that celebrate and honor ethnicity, culture, language, religion and background. These are the groups that you should be integrating with as a cannabis business. Quite often, you will find people who have incredible amounts of education and experience who have recently come to the U.S. who can’t find viable employment, but are eager to work.

Hold a job fair within a local community group to ensure that you’re making your opportunities equitable to all Americans, or visit one of their meetings to get to know people of different communities on a deeper level.

Search Local Volunteer Bases

In 2015, the Department of Labor did a survey to determine how many Americans are volunteering. The survey found that 62.6 million people volunteered through or for an organization at least once between September 2014 and September 2015. While there is a slight decline in patterns in volunteering, volunteers offer a unique resource to cannabis businesses.

Volunteerism shows a dedication to community improvement and a value towards corporate social responsibility or the corporate citizenship piece that we highlighted in the “Competencies of Successful Cannabis Entrepreneurs” article. These are values that should be featured within every cannabis company, as well as the people within.

Volunteerism also shows dependability, reliability, and commitment towards something greater than one’s self.

Highlight Your Equity Programs

Positioning yourself as an equal opportunity employer not only ensures you’re reaching your obligations for diversity within your organization, but it also attracts the customer that appreciates diversity in their sales experience.

Having an equity program that is on display through your website, printed materials, or even in-store/office notifications attracts a diverse work force that in the end helps your customer. If a customer speaks Urdu, your employee from Pakistan can help them understand cannabis in their own language. If your store is in a largely Hispanic area, having Latinos as part of your workforce will increase the likelihood you’ll attract more people if they can speak their own language.

Create Equitable Structures

Being an equal opportunities employer goes way beyond a diversity statement on your website or ensuring your workforce looks diverse. Equal opportunity means equal pay for equal work, and not allowing your infrastructure to favor one type of person over another.

Paying above the industry standard will ensure that you’re attracting, and retaining, your employees, as will providing opportunities for advancement and mentorship.

Make sure your organization, and your employees, have a place at the table where larger issues within the cannabis industry are discussed, so that your diverse workforce can speak for all diverse workers to ensure the equity the industry deserves.

Model the Way

Finally, model the way for the cannabis industry. If you have had a diversity strategy that has proven effective, share that with other cannabis entrepreneurs and business owners.

Showcase what you are doing in industry publications, social media forums, and participate as a speaker at an industry conference. The industry needs more entrepreneurs and business owners who have done diversity well to model the way.

Make Diversity a Priority

Earlier this year, writer D.M. Blunted commented on how black people (and minorities) are treated within the cannabis space. “No one celebrates their struggle,” she told The Her(B) Life, “And now, as the landscape changes, few offer space for inclusion.”

Be the cannabis business that changes this.

Social Equity Incubator: Why Do We Need It?

IISC_EqualityEquity.png

Respect for Diversity

There is a huge diversity gap growing within the cannabis industry. MJBizDaily recently reported that women and minorities are a small make-up of cannabis businesses, where 75% of leadership roles are held by men. The number of women in executive positions, in cannabis-based businesses, has fallen 9% between 2015 and 2017.

Growing Talent recently published “Competencies of the Successful Cannabis Entrepreneur”, where we stated that only 1% of America’s dispensaries are black owned and 80% of individuals with a stake in the cannabis industry are white. Only 19% of cannabis-based businesses are owned by a person of minority

Because of social equity programs, this number is growing.

Cannabis entrepreneurs owe the cannabis industry a fresh start. Instead of “whitewashing” the industry, business owners should seek to diversify their workforce, and build equitable cannabis structures.

What is Social Equity?

Social equality is a state of affairs in which all people within a specific society or isolated group have the same status in certain respects, including civil rightsfreedom of speechproperty rights and equal access to certain social goods and services, such as cannabis. It also includes equal opportunities and obligations, and so involves the whole of society.

Social equality requires the absence of legally enforced social class or caste boundaries and the absence of discrimination motivated by an inalienable part of a person's identity. For example, sex, gender, race, age, sexual orientation, origin, caste or class, income or property, language, religion, convictions, opinions, health or disability must absolutely not result in unequal treatment under the law and should not reduce opportunities unjustifiably.

"Equal opportunities" is interpreted as being judged by ability, which is compatible with a free-market economy. Relevant problems are horizontal inequality − the inequality of two persons of same origin and ability and differing opportunities given to individuals − such as in (education) or by inherited capital. Therefore, someone who grew up targeted by the “war on drugs” should have equal opportunities, in the cannabis industry, to someone who was raised in a white, middle class family.

Who Qualifies for Social Equity?

Social Equity aims to level the playing field within the cannabis industry. Persons who qualify for social equity programs typically fall within one of three categories: those persons targeted by the “war on drugs”, persons from ethnically diverse communities, and persons who live below the poverty line.

 

What is a Social Equity Incubator?

The main purpose of an incubator, like the program at Growing Talent, is to help start-ups to grow. They are collaborative programs which help people solve problems associated with launching a start-up by providing a space to work, seed funding, mentoring, training and other benefits.

A Social Equity Incubator is a business model used within the cannabis industry, which has three tiers. Tier 3 businesses “incubate” tier 1 and 2 businesses. Tier 3 businesses seek easier access to cannabis licensing if they agree to be an incubator, which includes providing rent-free space or technical business assistance to tier 1 and 2 businesses.

Tier 3 businesses also agree to enforce certain equity standards within tier 1 and 2 businesses, with some laws mandating that 50% of employees qualify for social equity programs. This allows for a diverse workforce and a more level playing field within the cannabis industry.

Tier 3 businesses agree to be an “incubator” for a period of time, and both the incubator and incubatee must sign appropriate documentation, including leases and business agreements. This allows business owners who may not have start-up money or resources to enter the cannabis industry with a “grace period”. In essence, it levels the playing field for all individuals seeking to work in the cannabis industry.

Incubators make money when the start-ups they take an equity stake in get big and successful. The best exits for an incubator come when one of their start-ups is acquired. The path to getting acquired path is shorter than the path to going public which would also allow the incubator to divest of their investment.

 

Why the Cannabis Industry Needs the Incubator Model

The cannabis industry is intense, it’s sink or swim. Small start-up companies are facing growing challenges and regulations to entering the market. The Social Equity Incubator Model reduces some of these challenges through diverse hiring, rent-free business space and technical assistance for the “little guy”, providing guidance as they enter a fast-growing market.

Both start-up companies and the incubator company benefit from this model. It allows bigger companies to invest within their industry, while profiting as start-up companies become successful. The incubator model also promotes diverse hiring and opportunities for persons who qualify for social equity programs.

Hopefully, as the use of this business model grows within the cannabis industry, our dispensaries will better represent the intricate and diverse social tapestry that is America.

JOIN OUR INCUBATOR TODAY!

4 Cities to Participate in Social Equity Programs

Social Equity has been the talk of the town around major cities in California and now Massachusetts. In fact, Massachusetts is the first to offer a statewide program. That means there are some prime cities to that you may live in to participate and be a part of history. Here are four major cities that currently offer Social Equity Programs.

Boston

Boston Skyline

Boston is the largest city in the State of Massachusetts and most likely will play the biggest role in the statewide equity program. The Cannabis Control Commission has a detailed outline of the program and expectations of its participants. You can read more here.

Los Angeles

Los Angeles Hollywood sign

The City of Angels recently opened up Phase II of its licensing round with a focus on Social Equity applicants. This round is dedicated to non-retail licenses but some pretty strict requirements must be met first. The Department of Cannabis Regulation will be giving out licenses on a 1:1 ratio meaning Social Equity applicants will be recipients of at least 50% of them. When retail licenses roll out in Phase III, that ratio will increase to 2:1.

Oakland

Oakland

The Town has been pioneering Social Equity efforts with applicants already having received licenses. The Hood Incubator has been leading this initiative helping thousands of black and brown people get into the cannabis industry.

San Francisco

San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge

Just across the bridge from Oakland, The City has started to ramp up its Social Equity efforts to help more people of color get into cannabis.

All of the above cities allow for incubators like ours to help applicants progress in areas such as licensing, compliance, property procurement, supply chain management, and more.