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Council Member Feliz questions Commissioner Gross about the cannabis NYC program
1:39:55
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4 min
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Council Member Oswald Feliz inquires about the cannabis NYC program, focusing on its funding, application process, and future plans. Commissioner Dynishal Gross provides detailed information about the program's first phase and upcoming second phase.
- The first phase of the cannabis NYC loan fund received 60 applications, with loans up to $100,000 available for conditional adult use applicants.
- Phase two, set to begin in spring, will expand eligibility and aim to connect businesses with up to $6 million in city capital.
- The discussion concludes with expressions of appreciation for the partnership between the council and SBS in supporting small businesses.
Oswald Feliz
1:39:55
This one is briefly about the cannabis NYC program.
1:39:58
So cannabis NYC helps with loans, it is supposed to work with industry stakeholders to create jobs and economic opportunities while also addressing the harms of cannabis prohibition.
1:40:12
A few questions about it.
1:40:13
How much funding has been provided to date?
1:40:16
How many applications have been received?
1:40:18
What's the average amount of funding that is loaned per the application, and also what criteria is used in making decision making on the Thank
Dynishal Gross
1:40:30
you, cheerfully.
1:40:31
So the cannabis NYC loan fund is our most recently created financing assistance program.
1:40:38
We opened applications in October and they were open for about a month.
1:40:44
They closed in early November.
1:40:46
Of course I want to lift up the partnership with the Economic Development Corporation which is our partner in delivering this program within city government.
1:40:57
We had 60 applications for the first tranche of loans in the program.
1:41:03
In order to be eligible for these loans, It's a closed universe of potential applicants.
1:41:08
You have to have received a license to operate a cannabis business in New York City and in this instance it was focused on conditional adult use applicants.
1:41:20
Social equity participants in this program.
1:41:24
So it was a smaller universe of potential applicants and we have begun to notify applicants to this first tranche of how they have fared in the program.
1:41:36
We don't yet have enough data to provide an average of the loans being awarded through the program, but the potential loans were up to $100,000.
1:41:47
And so we closed phase one but some of the businesses that applied during phase one are supplementing their applications and still being considered.
1:41:57
So we look forward to being able to report out on impact of this first phase very shortly.
Oswald Feliz
1:42:03
Alright, so we're concluding the first phase.
1:42:06
So phase two of the cannabis NYC loan fund is set to begin this spring.
1:42:11
How will phase two differ from phase one?
Dynishal Gross
1:42:14
Phase two will have an expanded set of potential licensees who will be included.
1:42:22
We expect that we'll be able to connect businesses to up to $6,000,000 in city capital and we're also hoping to have private investment.
1:42:33
At that point we're driving toward a $20,000,000 fundraising goal.
1:42:37
We're still going to prioritize card licensees but also potentially lend to more mature operating businesses whereas the first tranche was focused on card licensees who hadn't yet been able to open a retail location.
Oswald Feliz
1:42:52
Alright, thank you for the information.
1:42:55
I think that's it with the questions.
1:42:58
That's it for now.
1:43:00
Thank you so much for joining us today.
1:43:02
Thank you for all the information and for all the work that you do to support our small businesses and our bids and our commercial corridors.
1:43:09
Look looking forward to continuing our partnership and continuing to work on the different issues that affect our small business corridors.
1:43:17
Especially look forward to continuing the conversation about containerization rules.
1:43:20
I know this is mostly under the SNY, but of course there's a there's a role that we could all play with the Small Business Committee and Small Business Services to make sure that we, yeah, help with those different concerns that small businesses have prided.
1:43:35
We all love our bids and you know this is the number one issue that continues to come up.
1:43:39
So we look forward to continued conversations about that.
Dynishal Gross
1:43:42
Nobody loves them more than SBS.
1:43:45
Really appreciate this opportunity to discuss our work and I appreciate being in partnership and in conversation with you even when I'm on the hot seat.
1:43:54
It makes such a huge difference that the members of this committee and you as a leader of this committee are so deeply in contact with small businesses and aware of their challenges.
1:44:05
It really is tremendous and I just want to thank the members of our Small Business Advisory Commission who are you know keep SBS informed of small business, street vendor, merchant association, bid concerns citywide.
1:44:21
I know many of them are here today so thank you to Linda, to Randy, to the bid association which is represented here and to Mohammad Atia who brings street vendor community insights to our SBAC's work.
Oswald Feliz
1:44:36
Thank you, thank you so much.