CT Social Equity Council Executive Director Ginne-Rae Clay, Prosperity Foundation Executive Director Orsella Hughes, and SEC Board Member Michael Jefferson at Friday's presser.
A million-dollar check marked “prosperity” is making its way into New Haven.
That money comes from state cannabis sales, due to a 3 percent tax that Connecticut imposed upon legalizing recreation marijuana with the promise to redistribute funds back into communities “disproportionately” impacted by the war on drugs.
The state’s Social Equity Council (SEC) is sending a total of $6 million in grant money across those areas they’ve determined to be disadvantaged by the criminalization of cannabis, which includes New Haven among other cities like Hartford and Waterbury.
The SEC has chosen the Prosperity Foundation, a local nonprofit aimed at growing Black empowerment and wealth, vet which New Haven nonprofits should be awarded money out of the city’s $1 million allotted pot.
Community members gathered Friday morning inside the Howard K. Hill funeral home — named after the man who established both The Prosperity Foundation and services offered off Chapel Street for Black families in need of assistance with funeral planning and costs — to draw attention to who’s eligible to apply for that new grant money.
“The War on Drugs has decimated Black and Brown communities across the state and across this country,” remarked Michael Jefferson, New Havener and board member of the Connecticut Social Equity Council. “This is one small step to address what’s occurred in our communities.”
The grants will go towards certified nonprofits with a focus on either youth or reintegration into society of formerly incarcerated individuals and their families. That could mean legal aid groups, homelessness service providers, or financial literacy programming, to name a few examples.
The Prosperity Foundation has independently awarded over $750,000 in recent years to nonprofits around the state through their own grant making program. The idea behind this new batch of cash, SEC Executive Director Ginne-Rae Clay said, is to make sure the money gets to grassroots groups doing good work on the ground as opposed to the well-marketed organizations with higher odds of sweeping up funding opportunities.
You can read through the grant guidelines and stipulations — for example, most organizations receiving federal funding are likely exempt from applying for money stemming from the cannabis industry — and apply here. The deadline is Aug. 31 and the SEC expects to award that million across New Haven by October.
Prosperity Foundation Executive Director Orsella Hughes said Friday’s announcement was also a reminder that “philanthropy is not charity work, it’s futuristic work.
“You always hear that proverb about how ‘if you teach someone to fish, they can eat forever.’ We don’t want fish. We want the lake. We want access to the ocean. We want access to where we can continue to build in perpetuity.”
“The grants will go towards certified nonprofits with a focus on either youth or reintegration into society of formerly incarcerated individuals and their families. That could mean legal aid groups, homelessness service providers, or financial literacy programming, to name a few examples.”
Youth should include pre-K through age 20 in age appropriate organizations and activities.
You have to start supportive and supervised positive and productive support systems and activities at a young age, and then continue up through young adulthood, where adolescents and young adults need mentors, guidance, learning life skills, and keeping busy with positive and productive things to keep them out of trouble and shape them into responsible and contributing adults.
Youth activity groups, youth education support groups, youth sports groups, youth summer and afterschool and school holiday/vacation programming, community centers that serve young people, summer programming, prison to society reentry programs, supportive living for substance abusers, mental health supportive systems, housing assistance and food assistance should be included as eligible for these funds.