The City of Oakland, California, continues to pave the way towards social and economic equity in the cannabis business. The city has launched a new million-dollar workforce development grant program. The program is designed to recruit, train, and employ citizens who have disproportionately and unjustly suffered from the War on Drugs. This includes people who have lived in overpoliced neighborhoods in Oakland for at least two years and have endured a cannabis conviction in Oakland.

Oakland continues to smoke every other city in America in terms of social equity programs. Last fall, Oakland launched the first government-funded shared kitchen production workspace for social equity Cannabis entrepreneurs. The new Cannabis Equity Property Purchase Program earmarks $2 million of funding for cannabis business equity applicants to purchase a property leveraged by multiple equity applicants.