Californian nonprofits and local departments of health can apply soon for a grant worth $48 million, funded by the tax revenue generated from legalized marijuana.
The award will range from $600,000 to $3 million and can be used to provide services such as job placement, legal aid, treatment for mental health disorders and substance abuse, referrals to medical attention, and other support to communities who have been disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs.
Beginning Monday, applications for the next round of California Community Reinvestment Grants will be available through a online portal.
The $48 million pool will be divided in half and allocated to smaller nonprofits with annual revenues of $5 million or under. The remaining half of the $48 million pool will be made available to other nonprofits in communities as well as local departments of health.
According to the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, which administers the grant program, the grants are meant to cover “programmatic requirements consistent with their approved work plan and budget”.
To be -eligible, an organization must have been in existence for at least six month, have a California physical address, be exempt from federal and state taxes, be registered with the Secretary of State as being active, and be certified to offer the services proposed.
The program’s goal is to support communities that have been disproportionately affected by the drug war. Therefore, services proposed must be available in any of the following geographical areas:
- These counties have a higher rate of drug arrests per capita than the state. Alameda is one of them.
- The top 25 percent of census tracts in terms of civilian unemployment and poverty.
- The top 25% of census tracts in each state that have households with one parent or no family.
- Census tracts that are in the bottom 25% of high school graduation rates.
- In California, there are census tracts that have been designated as Opportunities Zones. These areas have high poverty rates with low median incomes.
Grants may reimburse 100% of the personnel costs incurred in providing services. All direct costs, including training and equipment, are reimbursed 50%. The indirect costs cannot exceed 17 percent.
CalCRG will be a six-year program. This spring, GO Biz granted more than $50,000,000 in reinvestment grant to organizations like Goodwill of the San Francisco Bay and Uncommon Law.
The funding levels of the program are consistently increasing from year to year. CalCRG, for instance, awarded $29 million to 58 non-profit organizations in 2021. was announced for the first time in April 2020.
California’s legalization of marijuana has led to the creation of a number new grant programs that are aimed at addressing consequences of marijuana prohibition, and trying to foster a strong well-regulated industry.
In June, state regulators from the Department of Cannabis Control announced that $4.1 millions would be awarded to 18 local governments as part of a unique program designed to support licensing programs for cannabis businesses and to curb the illicit marijuana market.
DCC also awarded nearly $20,000,000 in research grants funded by marijuana taxes to 16 academic institutions for the study of cannabis, including novel cannabinoids such as delta-8 THC, and genetics of the State’s many “legacy strains”.
In February, California officials awarded $15 million to local communities to help them promote equity within the marijuana industry. GO-Biz allocated the funds through the Cannabis Equity Grants Program to local jurisdictions in 16 cities and counties throughout the state. Late last year, applications for the program opened.
A state taskforce has also officially recommended that the legislature passes reparations legislation for compensating about two million Black Americans in total with a sum of nearly $228 Billion dollars, due to the racially-disproportionate harms caused by the war on drugs over a period of half a century.
Other states that have legalized pot also reinvest a portion in the community, with a focus on those groups who are disproportionately affected by the drug-war.
Illinois, for instance, distributed $45 million under its Restore, Reinvest, Renew (R3) grant program, which was created under the state’s Adult-Use Cannabis Legalization Law, in support of 148 programs operated by organizations with relatively low budgets, in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities.
Arizona , on the other hand, sets aside 10% of marijuana tax revenues to a Justice Redevelopment Fund, which provides funding for public health services, counseling and job training, as well as for social services in communities adversely affected due to marijuana arrests. The state opened applications for its first round of grants in that program.
Germany’s Federal Cabinet Approves Marijuana Legalization Bill and Sends It to Lawmakers for Enactment
Photo by California State Fair.
The post California Seeking Applications For $48M In Marijuana-Funded Communities Reinvestment Grants first appeared on Marijuana Moment.
