Social Equity
THE CADRE is a social equity company, meaning at least 51% of the company is owned by verified individuals disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs.
Los Angeles’ Social Equity Program aims to promote equitable ownership and employment opportunities in the cannabis industry to reduce disparities for marginalized communities and address the disproportionate impacts of the War on Drugs on these communities. To learn more, Please Click Here.
In 2020, due to the mismanagement of the social equity cannabis licensing process, our CEO Madison Shockley successfully led a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles. In addition, Madison co-founded the Social Equity Owners & Workers Association, which organized hundreds of Social Equity Applicants to join the fight. After four months of litigation, the City Council and the Mayor of Los Angeles settled with Madison by creating an additional 100 dispensary licenses for social equity applicants.
Below is a conversation on Social Equity featuring Jason McKnight, CEO of GreenGrowth, Madison Shockley, CEO of CADRE, and Strick from YSL.
Social Equity Mission
The Mission of the Social Equity Program is “to promote equitable ownership and employment opportunities in the cannabis industry in order to decrease disparities in life outcomes for marginalized communities, and to address the disproportionate impacts of the War on Drugs in those communities.”
Social Equity Program Overview
Cannabis criminalization and its enforcement has had long-term, adverse impacts to the City of Los Angeles, particularly for low income and minority community members.
The City of Los Angeles is one of the few jurisdictions in the United States attempting to address the impacts of past cannabis policies and their inequities by developing and implementing cannabis policies that seek to center equity in cannabis policy reform.
The Social Equity Program (SEP) is one tool the City of Los Angeles is using to begin to acknowledge and repair the harm caused by the War on Drugs and the disparate enforcement of cannabis prohibition.
Please check their website regularly for more information and updates related to the Social Equity Program and its implementation.
California Cannabis Local Jurisdiction Equity Grant
The California Cannabis Equity Act of 2018 and the Budget Act of 2019 appropriated funding for the state to provide to local jurisdictions to develop and operate local cannabis equity programs that focus on the inclusion and support of individuals in California’s legal cannabis marketplace who are from communities negatively or disproportionately impacted by cannabis criminalization.
Through this grant, the City of Los Angeles has been awarded approximately $15.8 million to provide direct assistance to equity applicants and equity licensees in the Social Equity Program.
In accordance with related grant agreements, the City is required to submit periodic reports to document its progress assisting Local Equity Applicants and/or Local Equity Licensees.
DCR will regularly engage with applicants and licensees to request information related to these periodic reports.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT SOCIAL EQUITY PLEASE CLICK THE LINK BELOW:
Social Equity
