Illinois Awards $45 Million In Marijuana Tax-Funded Grants To Support Communities Damaged By Drug War

Illinois officials announced on Thursday that they are awarding $45 million in grants, using funds generated from taxes on adult-use marijuana sales, to support community reinvestment in areas “hardest hit by the failed war on drugs.”

This is the second round of funding that’s being made available through the state’s Restore, Reinvest, and Renew (R3) program, which was established under Illinois’s adult-use cannabis legalization law.

The $45 million will support 148 programs run by organizations operating on relatively small budgets in communities designated as socioeconomically disadvantaged. The state first announced that applications for this grant round were open in December.

ICJIA Awards $45 Million in Restore, Reinvest, and Renew (#R3) Program Grants Supporting 148 programs across Illinois

Read more + view list of grantees:https://t.co/naEcbzJPFc#R3#RestoreReinvestRenew#equitymatterspic.twitter.com/Ci0e5LIl3k

— ICJIA (@ICJIA_Illinois) June 23, 2022

“A modern and equitable cannabis industry requires equity, opportunity, and a robust investment in righting the wrongs of the war on drugs,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) said in a press release. “That means investing in our underserved communities who’ve gone far too long without the funding and resources they need and deserve to heal and prosper.”

“We’re proud to use cannabis revenue to directly support community-based organizations invested in creating opportunity,” he said.

Under Illinois’s recreational marijuana law, 25 percent of tax revenue generated from cannabis sales must support communities that are economically distressed, experience high rates of violence and have been disproportionately impacted by drug criminalization.

The Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA) said it received 512 completed submissions for the R3 grants that were then vetted by community residents and stakeholders.

Among the grant recipients are the Illinois Prison Project, Illinois Equity Staffing LLC, Lifehouse Recovery Organization, Resilience Partners NFP and Women in Need Recover, each of which received about $1.5 million. Grant amounts varied, with most in the mid-to-low six figures. Cook County, where Chicago is located, received $305,137.

Organizations that received grants through the initial R3 round last year will have their funding renewed for another year to ensure that they can continue providing services in their communities.

“Illinois is showing what it looks like to work toward repairing the harm impacting our communities, by continuing to build the infrastructure that addresses decades of disinvestment, over-incarceration, and trauma,” Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton (D) said. “As a tool connecting communities to the resources they need equitably and sustainably, R3 is at the core of our efforts to bring restorative, healing solutions to the people and regions that have for too long been unheard and underserved.”

#R3 is bringing restorative, healing solutions to people and regions hardest hit by the failed war on drugs.

I'm incredibly proud of the resources and support these 148 programs will bring to underserved communities across the state. #WeAreR3https://t.co/3pgjLQgVb8

— Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton (@LtGovStratton) June 23, 2022

Last year, in July, state officials put $3.5 million in cannabis-generated funds toward efforts to reduce violence through street intervention programs.

Illinois officials have touted the strength of the state’s marijuana market, but they’ve stressed the importance of putting tax dollars from the program to good use in repairing the systemic harms of prohibition.

The state saw nearly $132 million in adult-use cannabis sales in April, the second highest monthly total since the market launched in 2020. The first couple of months of 2022 saw lagging sales, but state data on cannabis purchases in March and April indicates that the market is on the rebound.

From last year’s sales, Illinois generated almost $100 million more in tax revenue from adult-use marijuana sales than from alcohol in 2021, state data found.

While state officials have consistently voiced their commitment to equity, legalization’s rollout hasn’t been without hiccups and frustration among would-be licensees. Illinois regulators have faced legal challenges over the way social equity licensing applications have been managed, with complaints about the lottery system that the state later said it would work to resolve. As the market has matured, there have still lingering problems, including a court order that prohibited the state from approving 185 additional recreational cannabis shops for nearly a year before that decision was lifted last month.

In addition to providing community reinvestment funding, the governor announced in 2020 that his office had processed more than 500,000 expungements and pardons for people with low-level cannabis convictions on their records.

Pritzker also recently signed a bill that will make it so courts cannot deny petitions to expunge or seal records based on a positive drug test for marijuana.

A state-funded initiative was also recently established to help residents with marijuana convictions get legal aid and other services to have their records expunged.

It’s these types of initiatives that Toi Hutchinson recently told Marijuana Moment that she’s most proud of as she transitioned from being Pritzker’s cannabis advisor to the president of the national advocacy group, the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP).

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Illinois Announces $45 Million In Marijuana-Funded Grants To Support Community Reinvestment

Illinois officials announced on Wednesday that applications are opening for $45 million in new grants—funded by marijuana tax revenue—that will support programs meant to reinvest in communities most harmed by the drug war.

This will be the second round of funding to be issued through the state’s Restore, Reinvest, and Renew (R3) program, which was established under Illinois’s adult-use cannabis legalization policy. The law requires 25 percent of marijuana tax dollars to be put in that fund and used to provide disadvantaged people with services such as legal aid, youth development, community reentry and financial support.

“In the pursuit of justice, progress isn’t possible without accountability. We must acknowledge and address the trauma inflicted by the war on cannabis, which incarcerated countless nonviolent offenders and tore apart families and neighborhoods in the process,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) said at a press conference on Wednesday.

“That is the core tenet of Illinois cannabis legalization framework and what sets Illinois apart from other states that have legalized: we’re prioritizing investments in communities that were previously harmed for what is now legal,” he said.

Earlier this year, $31.5 million in R3 grants were distributed to 80 organizations. The sizable increase in funding this time around reflects the boom in cannabis sales that Illinois has seen over the past year, with multiple record-breaking months.

“The R3 program is transformative because we were intentional about putting justice-impacted people, community activists, and local stakeholders at the center of our discussions to make this program work for those it was created for,” Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton (D) said in a statement to Marijuana Moment.

In 2021, we invested 25% of the tax revenue from adult-use cannabis into Illinois communities. That's $31.5M of Restore, Reinvest, and Renew (R3) funds to 200 organizations + partners!

Follow me today for an exciting announcement about the 2022 #R3 Notice of Funding Opportunity. pic.twitter.com/7depdzmAeX

— Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton (@LtGovStratton) December 15, 2021

Organizations that received grants through the initial R3 round will have their funding renewed for another year to ensure that they can continue providing services in their communities.

“Through every step of this process, we’ve been very intentional about ensuring these grants go to the communities that need them and that they are used to benefit the people,” Stratton said. “We’ve also held ourselves accountable.”

Angelica Arroyo, manager at the Chicago Youth Boxing Club, spoke on Wednesday about how the organization has used cannabis revenue to grow.

“Because of the R3 grant we were able to do more,” she said. “We stayed open during COVID and that gave us more community exposure. We now have more girls are boxing, too. I’m proud of that.”

The #R3 grant addresses decades of disinvestment, over-incarceration, and trauma caused by the failed War on Drugs.

Want to get involved? Either apply for or share the Restore, Reinvest and Renew (R3) grant funding opportunity. Let’s make change happen! 💻https://t.co/d9HEAhhhoA

— Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton (@LtGovStratton) December 15, 2021

After issuing the first grants at the beginning of the year, officials convened a working group to make recommendations about how to most effectively disperse funding in the years to come.

They’ve also worked to develop a merit-based grant application review process, with an independent body comprised of people who represent R3 zones going through bias training before determining funding eligibility.

“We know these programs will have immediate and generational impact so we must be, and are, deliberate about creating a framework for long-term, sustainable funding to do this important work,” the lieutenant governor said.

“Let me make this clear: We are not done. And today’s announcement is a testament to that,” Stratton said at Wednesday’s event. “We have more work to do to repair the harm. We have more work to do to fill seats at the table. And we now have the program that was built for this journey.”

Community organizations can apply for state funding here: https://t.co/7mMh6yvf9d

— Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) December 15, 2021

If 2021 is any indication, then cannabis tax revenue will continue to be a consistent source of funding for the program.

Marijuana sales in Illinois topped $1 billion this year, a major economic milestone since the state launched its retail market in 2020. The state sold about $670 million in marijuana last year and took in $205.4 million in tax revenue.

The state generated more quarterly tax dollars from marijuana than alcohol for the first time earlier this year, the Illinois Department of Revenue reported in May. From January to March, Illinois generated about $86,537,000 in adult-use marijuana tax revenue, compared to $72,281,000 from liquor sales.

In July, state officials put $3.5 million in cannabis-generated funds toward efforts to reduce violence through street intervention programs.

Awarding the new grant money is not all that Illinois is doing to promote social equity and repair the harms of cannabis criminalization. Pritzker announced in December that his office had processed more than 500,000 expungements and pardons for people with low-level cannabis convictions on their records.

Relatedly, a state-funded initiative was recently established to help residents with marijuana convictions get legal aid and other services to have their records expunged.

It’s these types of initiatives that Toi Hutchinson recently told Marijuana Moment that she’s most proud of as she transitions from being Pritzker’s cannabis advisor to the president of the national advocacy group, the Marijuana Policy Project.

“Toi has been in immense demand for her insights and energy and enthusiasm for a long time,” the governor said on Wednesday. “What an honor for Illinois to have our own Toi Hutchinson leading the charge on a national scale, shaping the fight for cannabis justice, not just in our state but in all 50 states.”

Illinois isn’t the only state putting cannabis tax dollars to good use.

California officials have also made millions of dollars available for grants programs to support marijuana social equity initiatives and assist localities in processing pending cannabis business license applications.

In June, the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development said it was awarding about $29 million in grants to 58 nonprofit organizations, with the intent of righting the wrongs of the war on drugs. The funding is being provided through the California Community Reinvestment Grants (CalCRG) program.

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Illinois Awards $31.5 Million In Marijuana-Funded Grants To Repair Communities Harmed By Drug War

Illinois officials announced on Thursday that the state is distributing $31.5 million in grants funded by marijuana tax revenue to communities that have been disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs.

The funds are part of the state’s Restore, Reinvest, and Renew (R3) program, which was established under Illinois’s adult-use cannabis legalization law. It requires 25 percent of marijuana tax dollars to be put in that fund and used to provide disadvantaged people with services such as legal aid, youth development, community reentry and financial support.

For this round, 80 organizations that offer such services for eligible communities were chosen by the R3 board. Grant recipients include local governments, faith-based organizations and businesses.

According to the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA), the state received 398 completed applications for the grants.

Breaking‼️ #R3 Board Approves $31.5 million dollars in social equity grants! #JEO#twill#cannabisLegal@GovPritzker@LtGovStrattonpic.twitter.com/v2ftUoQH53

— ICJIA (@ICJIA_Illinois) January 21, 2021

Lt. Gov. Julianna Stratton (D), who chairs the board and has repeatedly discussed the need to couple legalization with social equity, told The Chicago Sun-Times that there was an outpouring of interest in the funding opportunity, and so the state had to be diligent when reviewing applications, holding webinars and meetings to determine how best to allocate the grant money.

“The R3 program will tackle chronic problems that have gone unaddressed for far too long in our underserved neighborhoods,” Stratton said in a press release. “The collaboration between the Justice, Equity, and Opportunity Initiative and ICJIA is innovative and reinvents the grant process with community inclusion and promotes a standard for equity and success that other states will hopefully take note of and emulate.”

The #R3 program invests 25% of tax revenues from adult-use cannabis into communities most impacted by mass incarceration and historic disinvestment. #JEO

You can learn more in the @Suntimes.https://t.co/ntuXbuBAtc

— Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton (@LtGovStratton) January 22, 2021

Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) said that he’s “so proud to see this key equity goal in cannabis legalization move forward and I applaud the leaders in the General Assembly, ICJIA, and stakeholders across the state who made this moment possible.”

.@LtGovStratton and I remain committed to ensuring the adult-use cannabis industry reinvests in communities hardest hit by the failed war on drugs. That's why today we awarded $31.4M in cannabis tax revenue grants to support rebuilding those communities.https://t.co/uXX3Ktsxnd

— Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) January 21, 2021

“By awarding this first round of R3 grants, we are taking another important step toward undoing the harms of the past, and Lt. Governor Stratton and I will continue to ensure equity is a top priority as the cannabis program moves forward,” he said.

Of the funds made available through this program, $28.3 million will go to service delivery and $3.1 million will be used for “assessment and planning initiatives.”

The process of selecting grantees involved an analysis of local data on issues like unemployment, gun violence, poverty and incarceration rates, as well as information sourced from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

The goal of the grant program is to empower groups to use their resources and expertise to repair the harms of cannabis criminalization and lift up communities that are most in need.

Communities United is receiving R3 funds to provide legal aid for low-income people, particularly as it concerns housing rights, for example, according to the Sun-Times. The Chicago Urban League and the Safer Foundation said they will use their grants to promote economic development in select, disadvantaged neighborhoods. The Chicago Torture Justice Center will use its resources to aid in community reentry for formerly incarcerated people and those who’ve experienced police violence.

Grant distributions vary from about $20,000 to nearly $2 million. The NAACP Westside Chicago Branch is getting more than $1.8 million, for example, and the University of Illinois will receive $318,000. The government of Illinois’s capital city, Springfield, secured an $80,000 grant, while the city of Rockford got $520,790. Branches of the Urban league, United Way and YMCA are also receiving cannabis money.

Awarding the new grant money is not all that Illinois is doing to promote social equity and repair the harms of cannabis criminalization. For example, Pritzker announced late last month that his office had processed more than 500,000 expungements and pardons for people with low-level cannabis convictions on their records.

Relatedly, a state-funded initiative was recently established to help residents with marijuana convictions get legal aid and other services to have their records expunged.

The state has had a lot of marijuana tax revenue to work with, with sales consistently growing over the last year since the retail market launched. More than $1 billion in medical and adult-use cannabis products were purchased in 2020 alone, state data shows.

The sales figures are resulting in a much-needed windfall for state programs. In October, officials announced that the state had so far collected more than $100 million in revenue from cannabis sales since the market opened.

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