NEW YORK — In an ambitious move to make its new marijuana industry equitable, New York is proposing a $200 million fund to help entrepreneurs of color and some other groups get into the business.
Kathy Hochul’s proposal, unveiled last month, would be among the largest sums any state has committed to try to ensure diversity and social equity in the fast-growing legal pot business.
Would-be equity applicants hope so.
Charlotte Hanna remembers what it took to open her company’s Massachusetts dispensary, called Rebelle — consultants, lawyers, engineers, and tens of thousands of dollars in a down payment on a building.
“It’s just a creative way that the state is looking at to help finance people that have had a hard time getting into the market,” says Hanna, CEO of Rebelle’s woman-and-minority-owned parent company, Community Growth Partners.
Opening a marijuana business can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars or more.
Some cities and counties, particularly in California, have their own initiatives; Los Angeles has given out $6 million in a year.