Massachusetts Cannabis Company Established $4M Grant for Minority-Owned Businesses

Massachusetts medical cannabis provider Revolutionary Clinics is establishing a $4 million grant that it will distribute between the state’s Economic Empowerment Cannabis licensees and other minority-owned businesses in Cambridge, MassLive reports. The fund is part of the company’s Aspire program which has already helped Caroline’s Cannabis, Haverhill Stem LLC, and Pure Oasis.

While the fund is set to launch this September after the end of Cambridge’s “moratorium on adult-use conversions by medical cannabis operators,” the first pair of $100,000 grants will be distributed in the next 30 days to Leah Samura, CEO and co-owner of Yamba Boutique, and Ivelise Rivera, owner and partner of Nuestra, LLC.

According to a company press release, there will be one million dollars allocated when the fund officially launches in September, followed by the additional distribution of $500,000 annually over the next six years.

“My mission is to not only open the first 100% local, black-owned marijuana retail store in Harvard Square, but also to help other women of color find their place in the industry. This grant will help me accomplish that mission. I am very grateful for Revolutionary Clinics for their support.”—Samura in a statement via MassLive

The grants will also be provided to non-cannabis industry, minority-owned, businesses including new or existing restaurants, service providers, non-profits or incubators focused on minority entrepreneurship; individuals seeking funding to open, maintain, grow, or expand a business in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and those seeking funding to stay open or reopen due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Revolutionary Clinics said in a press release.

Keith Cooper, Revolutionary Clinics CEO, said in a statement that the company has “heard time and time again that the hardest challenge for [Economic Empowerment] license holders to overcome is accessing capital,” and noted the “challenge is not limited to cannabis.”

“Businesses across Cambridge require funding and wrap-around services,” he said in the statement, “so we want to meet that need head-on with this program.”