New York Awards $5M in Grants Derived from Cannabis Taxes to Youth Organizations

Fifty youth-focused New York non-profits have been awarded grant money from $5 million in cannabis taxes collected by retailers in the state. The funds are the first round of grants from the state’s Community Grants Reinvestment Fund.  

In a statement, Felicia A.B. Reid, acting executive director of the New York State Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), said the organizations awarded the grant money “reflect the power that communities have to lead real and lasting on-the-ground change.”  

“This reinvestment is about more than funding programs; it is about recognizing that the harms wrought by the War on Drugs are no fiction – but that the story does not end there. These grants are evidence of a necessary power shift; they put the resources of the State into the hands of those best able to take a promise from idea to reality.” — Reid in a press release  

The grants include $2.6 million to youth-focused mental health organizations, $1.9 million to youth-focused workforce development organizations, and $500,000 to youth-focused housing organizations, according to OCM’s awardees booklet. New York City-based organizations received $1.5 million in funding, followed by $800,000 for mid-Hudson-based organizations; $600,000 for Long Island-based organizations; $500,000 for organizations based in Western New York; $1.6 million for organizations based in central New York, the Finger Lakes, the Southern Tier, North Country, Capital Region, and Mohawk regions.