Cannabis Equity & BIPOC Business
Upcoming events highlight the need for an inclusive legalized cannabis sector & how Black/Brown-owned businesses recover in a pandemic economy
a CSG East Council on Communities of Color feature
"Cannabis Equity: A Way to Fill the Wealth Gap?" will be an expert session examining where the booming cannabis industry is in relation to Black and Brown populations, especially in the wake of generations of mass incarceration of those groups for what has now become a popular and increasingly legalized form of medicine and adult use. More than 43 percent of the U.S. population now lives in a state where cannabis has been legalized or decriminalized on some level. As legalization spreads, cannabis is expected to gross $85 billion by 2030, in addition to billions made in other aligned products like hemp and CBD. But, the high cost of permits, licensing and doing business in the sector is prohibitive to underfunded Black and Brown entrepreneurs eager to enter the industry, making it almost exclusively White - despite the fact Black and Brown communities have suffered the most from generations of criminalized cannabis. How can policymakers help open the sector up to BIPOC participation? And, can cannabis' high growth opportunities really translate into major economic development opportunities for underserved and over-incarcerated communities?
Also …
a WITF Toward Racial Justice feature
According to a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research, Black businesses closed at more than twice the rate of white-owned businesses in early 2020. With COVID-19 continuing to take charge of our economy and institutional racism embedded within our society, minority entrepreneurs are wondering where to go from here.
During this conversation, we’ll explore many of the historical inequities that business owners of color have been subjected to. We’ll also examine the toll the pandemic has taken on minority owned businesses versus their counterparts, as well as provide resources for business owners in need.