190944

The City of Portland ordains: 

Section 1. The Council finds: 

1. In November 2016, City of Portland voters approved Ballot Measure 26-180 to impose a 3% local tax on retail cannabis sales. Portland City Council reaffirms its support for an equity-centered regulatory framework for legal cannabis business operations in Portland and in Oregon. 

2. The revenue from the 3% local tax on retail cannabis sales is expected to be managed independently and would be dedicated to three specific areas, including support for neighborhood small businesses, including minority and women owned businesses, and to “provide economic opportunity and education to communities disproportionately impacted by cannabis prohibition.” 

3. The City has an interest in encouraging entrepreneurship, supporting equitable access to the local cannabis industry, and taking steps to repair the damage caused by the inequitable development of policies, and the racially-biased enforcement and prosecution of previous cannabis laws. This includes direct assistance to cannabis businesses owned by those disproportionately impacted by cannabis prohibition, including Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC)-owned and women-owned businesses. 

4. The City recognizes the unique and necessary role of government in helping to address those historical wrongs which still affect people today, and that this can be done through equity-centered regulation of the cannabis industry in Portland, by supporting the Cannabis Policy Oversight Team (CPOT), whose goal is to recommend more equitable cannabis policies, and through the facilitation, coordination, and staffing of Portland’s Social Equity & Educational Development (SEED) Initiatives. 

5. SEED Initiatives, which includes the SEED Grant Fund, is funded by an ongoing allocation from the City’s local tax on cannabis sales, and is a tool for community reinvestment, restorative justice and wealth creation in those communities that have been historically and disproportionately impacted by the racially-biased enforcement of cannabis criminalization, including Black, Indigenous and Latinx communities. 

6. Priority funding areas for the SEED Grant Fund: education, entrepreneurship and economic development, criminal justice and expungement. 

7. The Office of Community & Civic Life (Civic Life) requested proposals from non-profit and for-profit entities (e.g., community-based organizations, businesses) with demonstrated experience in their areas of expertise, as well as applied strategies for equity and inclusion in organizational planning and decision-making, fostering interconnected communities, and providing multicultural and community-specific engagement. 

8. Civic Life will distribute $1,050,000 from FY 2022-23 budget as part of the SEED Initiatives for 2022 SEED Grant Fund awards from the Recreational Cannabis Tax Fund. 

9. A diverse grant selection committee of 6-9 individuals, including Civic Life staff, CPOT and OGR’s Tribal Relations, evaluated the proposals in the context of the purpose and requirements of the grant program. Ninety proposals were submitted for over $15 million in requests. The committee independently scored each application through two rounds of submission and deliberated to establish the recommendations to fund ten organizations, listed in the summary attached as Exhibit A. 

10. Civic Life has determined the ten proposed recipients are qualified to provide the programs and services at no cost to community members across priority areas of education, entrepreneurship, economic development and criminal justice, including expungement, which will be outlined in a detailed scope of work in accordance with the City of Portland grant agreement.  

11. The City Attorney's Office has approved the grant agreement template attached as Exhibit B. 

NOW, THEREFORE, the Council directs: 

1. The Director of the Office of Community & Civic Life is authorized to execute grant agreements in a form substantially similar to the agreement attached as Exhibit B with the organizations listed in Exhibit A. The grant agreements shall conform to the funding allocations listed in Exhibit A. The total amount of grant funding authorized by this ordinance shall not exceed $1,050,000.  

2. Amendments to the grant agreements, including Scope of Work, Budget, and grant funding amount, may be executed by the Director of the Office of Community & Civic Life or the Director’s designee, provided the amendments do not increase the fiscal risk to the City or increase funding as authorized above, and have been approved as to form by the City Attorney.  

Section 2.  The Council declares an emergency exists because a delay in funding could result in delay in no-charge services to communities disproportionately impacted by cannabis prohibition including Black, Indigenous and communities of color by these organizations through these agreements; therefore, this ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after its passage by the Council.