The first minority-owned cannabis company in Illinois has initiated a Cannabis Incubator Program, which seeks to aid community members applying for a social equity license.
The 1937 Group, Ltd. Cannabis Incubator would extend an array of resources and assistance in conjunction with The 1937 Foundation and Parkway Dispensary that includes business formation; legal templates/agreements; documentation review; dispensary site selection Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs); and supply chain strategy.
“Currently, just 2 percent of current Illinois dispensaries are majority BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) owned,” The 1937 Group CEO Ambrose Jackson said. “This statistic is more than just disheartening – it’s disgraceful. Illinois has already recorded over $3 billion in recreational cannabis sales with almost zero minority representation. As a leading minority-owned cannabis company, our mission is to help change this paradigm and drive the betterment of our communities through representation and ownership in this privileged, corporate-dominated industry.”
Illinois recently announced it is awarding 55 Social Equity Dispensary Licenses in 2023, per authorities. The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) is slated to begin accepting applications for the 55 conditional cannabis dispensary licenses on Jan. 30, 2023, with licenses distributed across 17 Bureau of Labor Statistics Regions.