Connecticut's Social Equity Council, the body charged with ensuring that revenues from legal cannabis sales benefit marginalized communities, has adopted recommendations for a strategic plan, and given a timeline for its grants program to resume.
The moves, outlined in a meeting this week, come after internal tensions and external criticism of the council prompted a four-month investigation last year and led to the resignation of its first executive director, Ginne-Rae Clay.
Her replacement, former state representative Brandon McGee, told a meeting of the council Tuesday that he aims to release a "notice of funding opportunities" for the body's community reinvestment grant program by the end of the first quarter. The council has $5.6 million earmarked for community reinvestment in its current budget.
The council was set up in part to disburse funding that comes from the licensing fees paid by cannabis companies being established in the state. More than $5 million was awarded last year in grants to projects in communities disproportionately affected by the war on drugs — what the council terms "disproportionately impacted areas" or DIAs.
Read more at Hartford Business