The Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) is pleased to announce the release of the fiscal year 2024-25 Grant Solicitation for the Cannabis Equity Grants Program for Local Jurisdictions.
Donor Name: Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development
State: California
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 12/16/2024
Size of the Grant: $500,000 to $1 million
Grant Duration: 2 Years
Details:
GO-Biz offers a range of services to business owners including: attraction, retention and expansion services, site selection, permit assistance, regulatory guidance, small business assistance, international trade development, assistance with state government, and much more.
Cannabis prohibition and criminalization had a devastating impact on populations and communities across California. Individuals convicted of a cannabis offense and their families suffer the long-term consequences of prohibition and criminalization. These individuals have a more difficult time entering the newly created adult-use cannabis industry due, in part, to a lack of access to capital, business space, technical support, and regulatory compliance assistance.
GO-Biz administers the Cannabis Equity Grants Program for Local Jurisdictions to aid local equity program efforts to support equity applicants and equity licensees. Offering technical support, regulatory compliance assistance, and assistance with securing the capital necessary to begin a business will further the stated intent of the AUMA by reducing barriers to licensure and employment in the regulated industry. Offering these types of support will also aid the state in its goal of eliminating or reducing the illicit cannabis market by bringing more people into the legal marketplace.
Purpose
The purpose of the Cannabis Equity Grants Program for Local Jurisdictions is to advance economic justice for individuals most harmed by cannabis criminalization and poverty by providing support to local jurisdictions as they promote equity and eliminate barriers to enter the newly regulated cannabis industry for equity program applicants and licensees.
Funding Categories
Eligible local jurisdictions may submit only one type of application:
- Funding Request Type 1: Assistance for Cannabis Equity Assessment/Program Development
- Assistance for the creation of a cannabis equity assessment and/or assistance for the development of a local equity program.
- Funding Request Type 2: Assistance for Cannabis Equity Program Applicants and Licensees
- Assistance for cannabis equity program applicants and licensees to gain entry to, and to successfully operate in, the state’s regulated cannabis marketplace. An eligible local jurisdiction may not apply for Funding Request Type 2 unless:
- The jurisdiction has already conducted a cannabis equity assessment by the application due date; and
- The jurisdiction has adopted or operates a local equity program by them application due date; and
- The jurisdiction has established its local equity program eligibility criteria by the application due date.
- Assistance for cannabis equity program applicants and licensees to gain entry to, and to successfully operate in, the state’s regulated cannabis marketplace. An eligible local jurisdiction may not apply for Funding Request Type 2 unless:
Funding Information
- A total of fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000) is available for fiscal year 2024-20253. There are two application types which are defined below. Applications for Funding Request Type 1 are subject to a maximum request of seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000) and the total amount available for this application type is one million dollars ($1,000,000). In the event the total amount of funding requested in approved applications for Funding Request Type 1 exceeds the amount available for this application type, the grant amount allocated for each approved Funding Request Type 1 application shall be prorated.
- Applications for Funding Request Type 2 are subject to a maximum request of three million five hundred thousand dollars ($3,500,000) and will be allocated grant funds using a point-based scoring system and funding formula. The total amount available for Funding Request Type 2 applications will be the difference between the total amount of funding available for the fiscal year and the total amount approved for Funding Request Type 1 applications. If a Funding Request Type 2 applicant requests an amount less than it would be entitled to based on the point-based scoring system and funding formula, then the applicant will be awarded the lesser amount.
As indicated in last year’s Grant Solicitation, applications for Funding Request Type 2 are subject to the following funding match requirement:
- Funding Request Type 2 grant awards in excess of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) will require 1:1 matching funds from the local jurisdiction during the grant term for the amount in excess of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000).
- Funding Request Type 2 grant awards of up to five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) will not require any matching funds from the local jurisdiction during the grant term.
- In-kind contributions may not be counted as matching funds, except for the value of the wages and benefits of local jurisdiction staff performing local equity program services. Wages and benefits of staff must be prorated unless 100 percent of the employee’s time is dedicated to the jurisdiction’s local equity program.
- Grant funds from GO-Biz, the Department of Cannabis Control, and any other California State Agency or Department may not be counted as matching funds.
- Local jurisdiction matching funds must be expended during the grant term for eligible Funding Request Type 2 activities and be documented in the jurisdiction’s approved GO-Biz Matching Funds Budget Spreadsheet.
Grant Period
April 1, 2025 – October 31, 2026.
Eligible uses of Funding
- Applicants for Funding Request Type 1: Assistance for Cannabis Equity Assessment/Program Development may use funding solely for the purpose of conducting an equity assessment and/or developing a local equity program. Applications for Funding Request Type 1 may request up to seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000). Grant funds for Funding Request Type 1 are subject to the following requirements:
- An eligible local jurisdiction that receives a grant for Funding Request Type 1 may use no more than forty thousand dollars ($40,000) to conduct its cannabis equity assessment.
- Eligible costs related to conducting a cannabis equity assessment include staff time to conduct the analysis and compile the report, or contracting with a consultant to conduct necessary research, etc.
- Eligible costs related to program development include staff or consultant time, and other necessary and reasonable expenses to adopt a local equity program, and/or design and prepare to implement any new component(s) of an existing local equity program which are not already operational.
- Funds requested to assist with the development of a local equity program may not include any costs associated with acquiring and/or improving land or buildings.
- An eligible local jurisdiction may receive Type 1 funding for the purpose of conducting a cannabis equity assessment only once and may receive Type 1 funding for the purpose of program development only once, and in no case may receive more than seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000) total in Type 1 funding.
- Applicants for Funding Request Type 2: Assistance for Cannabis Equity Program Applicants and Licensees may use funding to assist the jurisdiction’s equity applicants and equity licensees to gain entry to, and to successfully operate in, the state’s regulated cannabis marketplace.
- Applications for Funding Request Type 2 may request up to three million five hundred thousand dollars ($3,500,000). Grant funds for Funding Request Type 2 may only be used as follows:
- To provide grants, no-interest loans, or low-interest loans to the jurisdiction’s local equity applicants and/or local equity licensees to assist with startup and ongoing costs.
- To provide or fund direct technical assistance to the jurisdiction’s local equity applicants and/or local equity licensees. No more than 10 percent of the grant award may be used for direct technical assistance. Any amount of grant funds for direct technical assistance that the jurisdiction will subcontract with another entity or person to provide must be identified as a subcontracted cost in the GO-Biz Budget Spreadsheet.
- To assist in the administration of the jurisdiction’s local equity program. No more than 10 percent of the grant award may be used for administration, which includes the following:
- Employing staff or hiring consultants to administer the jurisdiction’s local equity program, including administering loans and grants.
- The jurisdiction’s costs associated with its efforts to provide sources of capital to its local equity applicants and local equity licensees.
- Applications for Funding Request Type 2 may request up to three million five hundred thousand dollars ($3,500,000). Grant funds for Funding Request Type 2 may only be used as follows:
Eligibility Criteria
Only eligible local jurisdictions may apply for grant funds. “Eligible local jurisdiction” means a local jurisdiction (a city, county, or city and county) that demonstrates an intent to develop a cannabis equity program or that has adopted or operates a cannabis equity program.
In addition, grant applications from eligible local jurisdictions are subject to the following requirements:
- For Funding Request Type 2 applications, local jurisdictions must have established their local equity program eligibility criteria by the application due date and such criteria should focus on individuals most harmed by cannabis criminalization and poverty. Local jurisdictions with local equity program eligibility criteria deemed by GO-Biz as overbroad may have contractual restrictions and limitations placed on grant funds provided by GOBiz should applications from such jurisdictions score well enough to be awarded grant funds. Local jurisdictions may use the criteria established by the Department of Cannabis Control for its Equity Fee Relief Program, however, this criteria should not be expanded as it is the minimum criteria acceptable to GO-Biz.
- Local equity programs may not include eligibility criteria that violate the Equal Protection Clauses of the U.S. and California Constitutions, and Article 1, Section 31 of the California Constitution (Prop. 209) such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, etc. Local jurisdictions that include such eligibility criteria in their local equity programs will NOT be awarded grant funds.
- Local jurisdictions that have been previously awarded a Cannabis Equity Grant from GOBiz are eligible to apply for a subsequent grant only if they have expended at least 50 percent of any grant funds awarded more than 12 months ago (calculated from the date the grant agreement was fully executed to the application due date), and at least 80 percent of any grant funds awarded more than 18 months ago (calculated from the date the grant agreement was fully executed to the application due date), as evidenced by expenditures reported in the most recent progress report submitted to GO-Biz by the application due date.
- Local jurisdictions that have been previously awarded a Cannabis Equity Grant from GOBiz and fail to submit all of the statutorily and contractually required annual report information to GO-Biz by the January 1, 2025, deadline may have their applications deemed ineligible for a grant award.
For more information, visit GO-Biz.
