Community Fellows Blog Posts

When I first started my fellowship at the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits (SVCN), I knew I’d be doing a lot of research on social justice issues and various policy measures. My first research project was on the aging senior population in Santa Clara County and the accessibility issues that they face. I then moved on to a current Supreme Court case, the new tax reform act, and a few smaller issues which all fell into one of the two categories, as I had predicted. What I didn’t anticipate, though, was how these two areas would come together in one research project.

At the beginning of the year, I began doing preliminary research on the local cannabis policies being developed around California. I started by  learning about the various tax structures and the state’s regulations in an effort to see if any of the tax revenues would be directed toward nonprofits or any of the issues we address. We wanted to have some basic information about the cannabis issue prepared so the Board could make informed decisions, if the need arose. The research included what we could find online, in addition to input from some stakeholders and other organizations looking into cannabis regulations. One of the people we met with was Victor Gomez, a political strategy consultant working with the Silicon Valley Cannabis Alliance. Our biggest take-away from that meeting was the immense revenue potential that could be collected through taxes and directed toward city services and our nonprofit members. In short, it was estimated that one acre of recreational cannabis cultivation could bring in $600,000 of new revenue based on Monterey County’s tax rates. After this discovery, we were extremely excited to bring our research to the Board and Leadership teams as we saw this as a huge opportunity for our members to take advantage of.

After meeting with each of the teams, there was concern about taking the lead on this issue due to youth and public health concerns, but they were interested in learning more. With their questions in mind, I continued my research with a more focused goal. One piece that both of the teams were interested in learning more about were the various equity programs being implemented, particularly in Oakland and San Francisco. These programs aim to build a diverse and inclusive cannabis industry, as well as, undo significant social hurdles as a result of disproportionate arrest and incarceration rates for people of color. They do so by establishing certain equity requirements for some of their permit applicants and requiring the rest of the permit applicants to provide assistance to the equity individuals. In Oakland, for example, their equity program has resulted in 8 new dispensaries having a workforce of 90% Oakland residents. Adding this equity lens meant that this was no longer just policy research, but also, a social justice issue.

Over the last two months, I have collected a plethora of information regarding cannabis policies and equity programs in the Bay Area and California. I’ve even been named the “Cannabis Czar” of the office due to my extensive knowledge. On Wednesday, April 18, I presented what I’ve learned to the SVCN Board of Directors. A goal of mine, as a fellow, was to be able to directly teach our members more about important policy research and this presentation allowed me to do just that. I never would’ve thought when I first started my cannabis research that it would blend these two pieces of SVCN, but I’m glad that it did. My research is always changing, though, as cities and counties attempt to form regulations that work best for their constituents, which keeps me on my toes. I feel proud that SVCN has trusted me to take the lead on such a prevalent issue and I’m looking forward to seeing how things continue to develop!