Licensed sales are expected to launch sometime next year in New York, where adult recreational use of the drug was legalized last March.
"We want to make sure that these equity businesses have a chance to start the industry here, and and we’re very cognizant of the fact that they need these resources as early as possible," he said. "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. It's aiming to expand to Illinois, New Jersey and her home state of New York.
Social equity efforts range from licensing priorities to training to loans, but progress has been slow in many states. Many entrepreneurs begin by tapping personal funds, relatives, or friends — resources that aren't equally available to all in a country with wealth gaps between women and men and between whites and people of color.
New York's plan takes a page from Illinois, which is working with private lenders to make up to $34 million in loans.