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Cannabis Business Gets a Boost
C ontinued from p age 3
tant and do a major upgrade to his website.
Minorities were “disproportionately tar-
geted by cannabis criminalization,” said
NuLeaf Executive Director Jeannette Ward
Horton, and entrepreneurs of color have
even less access to money in a industry
that can’t get traditional funding through
banks.
Green Box’s business has grown by 143
percent, Horton said, because of the grant.
“The city’s done a good thing by invest-
ing these tax dollars in these businesses
and we’re seeing a direct line to actually
help people harmed by the war on drugs,”
he said.
October 2, 2019
Minority & Small Business Week
Nationwide, only 2.7 percent of
plant-touching cannabis businesses have
majority ownership by African Americans,
according to Horton.
Prosper Portland’s investment in the
NuLeaf project is in its second year, and
this year it has increased its funding to
$210,000. That means more grants will be
available next year, Horton said.
Grants ranging from $15,000 to $30,000
will again be available, she said, and a new
category is being introduced, for a zero in-
terest, slow payback loan of $60,000.
Criteria for the grants or loans all require
that the business be registered with the city,
be cannabis related and 51 percent owned
by someone from a minority population.
That can include other minorities, such as
Latinos or Native Americans, Horton said.
“Our priority is African Americans be-
cause they were targeted, but we will abso-
lutely include all minorities,” she said.
Green Hop, located at 5515 N.E. 16th
Ave, also saw an increase in sales, prof-
its and employees because of the NuLeaf
grant, Horton said. The store opened last
year with a hip-hop theme and a promise
to help economic growth in northeast Port-
land.
“This is more than a store, this is a
representation of equity,” said co-own-
er Karanja Crews shortly after the store
opened. Crews grew up in the same neigh-
borhood as the store. Another reason for
the store’s theme is that the hip-hop culture
normalized cannabis use back in the ‘90s,
said the other co-owner, Nicole Kennedy,
and “made it part of a lifestyle, rather than
making it so taboo.”
Crews and Kennedy have also pledged
to give back to the community by running
training and internship programs for young
African Americans who looking for work
in the cannabis industry.
NuLeaf is a member of Prosper Port-
land’s inclusive Business Resource Net-
work, a group of 16 organizations that pro-
vides culturally responsive business advice
to almost 1,000 entrepreneurs each year.
Horton said she expects NuLeaf’s work
to grow and continue to contribute to Port-
land’s prosperity and the prosperity of mi-
nority-owned cannabis businesses.
“NuLeaf Project businesses contribu-
tion to the growing tax base and employ-
ment numbers is a win for the city,” she
said. “We believe more investment …will
bring better returns. We’re thrilled to have
more funds to grow these businesses, and
we’re only scratching the surface.”
Learn more about Green Box at pdx-
greenbox.com. To learn more about the
NuLeaf program, visit nuleafproject.org.
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