New York’s First Cannabis Retail Showroom Opens in The Bronx

Bronx, NY – Yesterday The Bronx Community Foundation and the Bronx Borough President’s Office, announced the opening of “The Bronx Dispensary Showroom” - a first-of-its-kind compliant cannabis retail pop-up experience in the Bronx. The three-day event will feature an end-to-end cannabis retail dispensary education experience, a workforce development fair, and community groups, and professionals providing technical training and education on social equity, advocacy, and opportunities in one of the fastest-growing industries in the world - the cannabis industry.

"Built on a promise of social equity, New York’s cannabis industry presents an opportunity to bring jobs and build generational wealth in our Bronx community that suffered profoundly from cannabis prohibition," said Desmon Lewis, Co-Founder of The Bronx Community Foundation. "To help ensure that promise is fulfilled, The Bronx Community Foundation is committed to providing educational and workforce development resources through initiatives like The Bronx Dispensary Showroom. We’re grateful for the support of numerous community partners, elected officials, and partners within the Cannabis industry.”

The cannabis industry will be one of the largest small business-generating industries in New York— supporting up to 24,000 jobs within three years and producing nearly $1.3 billion in sales. Despite this potential, the representation of communities disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs needs to be addressed in one of the fastest-growing industries in the world. The Bronx showroom experience will highlight how cannabis can serve as a generational wealth-building opportunity that gives underserved communities, and communities of color, access to equitable resources and the tools they need to succeed.

“Opening and operating a successful business is always challenging, but even more so in a brand new industry with complex regulations," said Howell Miller, a CAURD applicant from The Bronx. "This showroom space and training sessions are critical resources for prospective cannabis business owners like me because they show us what the State of New York requires for the layout and back-of-house operation of a compliant dispensary.”

The cannabis retail pop-up experience includes:

• A Compliant Adult Use Cannabis Retail Dispensary Showroom: a dispensary showroom experience built by Temeka Group, one of the 10 firms awarded by DASNY to design and build New York Adult-Use Retail Cannabis Dispensaries. Compliant technology provided by Dutchie and partners KayaPush, Sapphire Risk, The Peak Beyond, Lucid Green, Point Seven Group, LeafLink, and New York Cannabis Project. Cannabis retail dispensary experience reviewed by Vicente Sederberg LLP for compliance using The Marihuana Regulation & Taxation Act (MRTA), Office of Cannabis Management (“OCM”) Guidance, and draft adult-use cannabis regulations proposed by the OCM as of November 20 (collectively, the “Regulatory Authority”).
  
• Workforce development: Training and a speaker series of state and local elected officials, community groups and professionals providing education on social equity, advocacy and opportunities in the industry led by NYSC Connect.
  
• Equitable resources: A vendor showcase with a collection of free resources available to the community (e.g. expungement clinic, business license setup, workforce resume assistance, etc.), including Cannabis Workforce Initiative.

• Community and advocacy groups: Cannabis NYC (NYC Department of Small Business Service), All That Jive NYC, TakeRoot Justice, 1Freedom, CannaBronx (a project of Mothers on the Move) and YOUNGWOO & ASSOCIATES ("YWA") to offer a wide array of services and resources for the community.

“I am excited about the opening of our New Bronx Dispensary Showroom, a pop-up that for the first time in our State, provides the public a preview of a retail cannabis experience in our borough.” said Bronx Borough President, Vanessa L. Gibson. “Bronxites were among those impacted by discriminatory policies that disproportionately incarcerated New Yorkers of Color and we are committed to undoing years of damage to our communities. I want to thank the Bronx Community Foundation and all of our partners for joining us on this important endeavor and commitment to equity for our residents and families.”

“Education is critical to New York City becoming a global hub of cannabis industry excellence, and events like this first-ever cannabis pop-up retail experience play a critical role in bringing information to communities and entrepreneurs,” said Dasheeda Dawson, Founding Director of Cannabis NYC. “Cannabis NYC continues to work toward promoting entrepreneurship and economic development while keeping equity across business, science, and culture front and center.”

Additionally, the showroom will be equipped with compliant software provided by the world's most valuable cannabis technology platform to provide technical training and show how the power of that technology can lower costs for businesses.

“Dutchie’s mission is to provide safe and easy access to cannabis and to leverage the power of technology to propel the industry forward to help spread the positive benefits that cannabis is bringing to the world,” said Dutchie’s Head of Strategic Growth Anne Forkutza. “We are proud to partner with so many local organizations committed to providing underrepresented and underserved communities in New York the opportunity to thrive in one of the fastest-growing industries in the world.”

“We are pleased and truly excited to partner with The Bronx Community Foundation, the Bronx Borough President’s Office and Dutchie to bring the first compliant adult-use cannabis retail dispensary showroom to New York,” said Mike Wilson, Founder and CEO of Temeka Group. “As one of the firms to design and construct sites for New York State's CAURD licensees, we are grateful for the opportunity to utilize our cannabis retail dispensary expertise and 30+ years retail design-build experience to create beautiful cannabis retail dispensaries in New York that operate efficiently and compliantly.”

“New York has promised that its new cannabis industry will benefit those most harmed by the failed War on Drugs. Events like this are necessary to deliver on that promise,” said Justine Olderman, Executive Director of The Bronx Defenders. “We're proud to support The Bronx Community Foundation's effort to bring these vital resources and knowledge directly to the communities we serve, and to continue our partnership through the Bronx Cannabis Hub.”

“I am very excited about events like “The Bronx Dispensary Showroom”.” said State Senator Luis R. Sepúlveda. “This event is very important as we get into the new laws regarding Cannabis and its use in New York. It is important to educate ourselves and share ideas and experiences so that communities like the Bronx can benefit from this industry and enter this new era in compliance with all laws and the best practices.”

The event will kick off with a press conference today from 9:00-10:00 AM EST. This experience is for educational purposes only – cannabis products will not be featured or sold. The Bronx Dispensary Showroom is located at the historic Bronx Post Office on 558 Grand Concourse and will run December 9 - 11. To learn more, visit: https://thebronx.org/cannabiseducation/