To: Board of Supervisors
From: County Administrative Office
Agenda Section: Consent
Vote Requirement: Majority
SUBJECT:
title
Fourth Modification to Humboldt County Local Equity Program Manual
end
RECOMMENDATION(S):
Recommendation
That the Board of Supervisors:
1. Approve modifications to the Humboldt County Local Equity Program (LEP) Manual;
2. Authorize staff to open a new grant round for the LEP applicants using the 2023 Cannabis Equity Grant award and updated LEP Manual; and
3. Authorize the County Administrative Officer to execute sub-awards to eligible applicants under the Local Equity Program.
Body
SOURCE OF FUNDING:
Economic Development Project Trellis (120-275422)
DISCUSSION:
On Mar. 19, 2019, your Board adopted Resolution No. 19-24 adopting the Humboldt County
Cannabis Local Equity Program (LEP) Manual for the operation of the Local Equity Program (LEP) in response to Senate Bill (SB) 1294. The LEP Manual focuses on the inclusion and support of individuals and communities in Humboldt's cannabis industry that are linked to populations or neighborhoods that were negatively or disproportionately impacted by cannabis criminalization. With the adoption of the LEP, the Economic Development Division (EcDev) was authorized to apply for the Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC) Cannabis Equity Grant (CEG) funding.
Following changes to the BCC's criteria for local equity programs and the publication of Humboldt County's Equity Assessment, staff updated the LEP Manual. The Board approved those changes on Oct. 8, 2019. BCC subsequently released administration of the CEG funding to the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) from which EcDev received three additional awards of $2,459,581, $1,055,870, and $3,429,870 respectively.
Additional modifications have been made to the LEP Manual following input received from GoBiz, interagency partners, stakeholders, and community members which have modified the eligibility criteri...
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