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May 21 Take Action Summit

Ready to dive into the world of cannabis opportunities? Join us at the Take Action Summit presented by Cannaware, in partnership with Cannabis Workforce Initiative and the Office of Assembly Member Stefani L. Zinerman on Sunday, May 21st from 9-6pm at Restoration Plaza – 1368 Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY 11216.

This game-changing event aims to equip New Yorkers with essential resources and knowledge to break into the booming cannabis industry.

Tickets are FREE, but RSVP is required to attend. If you’re interested in attending, RSVP below

We understand that many New Yorkers are eager to participate in this rapidly growing industry. Whether as a patient, an employee, an entrepreneur, an activist, or a cannabis enthusiast. Many  lack the resources to help start or are afraid of participating due to the impacts of cannabis prohibition on communities of color. As a result, people who could benefit from cannabis, or have talents that could benefit the cannabis space, are unable to seize the opportunities that are currently available in the industry.

Cannaware’s Take Action Summit provides a day of panel discussions, interactive presentations, community support, resources and tools to help guide New Yorkers on their path in Cannabis to help address the challenges that exist. Whether the aspiration is career, advocacy, business, or just a consumer or patient who would like to be more informed, this event will serve you. 

Our Take Action Summit provides guidance in the industry for individuals in communities affected by cannabis prohibition to help foster economic and social recovery.

Attendees will have access to the following:

Panels Discussions

Receive industry insight and hear about the experience of industry specialists and community leaders who look to provide guidance to others on the same path.

Interactive Workshops

Receive In-depth information and valuable resources on specific topics within Cannabis Career and Business. Get the opportunities to interact with the instructor to get your questions answered and hear relatable examples.

Free Food and Drinks

Enjoy delicious appetizers from a local Bed-Stuy POC Owned food caterer courtesy of our event sponsors.

Industry & Community Support Resources

An assortment of resources including criminal justice information, employment training and services, business assistance, medical cannabis resources, and other useful information

How Can We Empower Our Community Through Cannabis? Panel

As the OCM continues to roll out the New York Cannabis Adult Use Market, it is important that community members are aware of the many ways the cannabis industry will impact their community. The cannabis industry has the potential to generate tax revenues, create new jobs and business opportunities across the State, as well as provide a much-needed boost for the agricultural markets. In order to ensure communities disproportionately impacted by cannabis prohibition will be able to take part in this new industry we must provide them with the information and resources they need to participate. This panel discussion explores the current state of cannabis and our communities with  cannabis industry specialists and regulators who can provide insight and answer questions on how New Yorkers can take advantage of the new industry.

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Founding Director of Cannabis NYC

Dasheeda Dawson

Dasheeda Dawson is a global cannabis advocate, award-winning Fortune 100 business strategist, and bestselling author on the cannabis industry. In October of 2022, Dasheeda was appointed Founding Director of Cannabis NYC by Mayor Eric Adams. As profiled by the New York Times, she returns home to lead the city’s efforts to become a global leader in cannabis industry excellence. As the founding director, she oversees the creation and curation of city resources to help build a sustainable cannabis industry, including helping entrepreneurs to apply for licenses, access financing opportunities, and navigate municipal regulations.

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Founder of NYU CannaPolicy & Holistic Remedies

Tosin Ajayi

Tosin Ajayi is a dedicated cannabis advocate, entrepreneur, and non-profit specialist. While earning her MPA at New York University, Tosin founded NYU CannaPolicy, a student group committed to advancing responsible cannabis legalization and remains an active board member. Tosin also co-owns the CBD company, Holistic Remedies. She takes pride in partnering with impact-driven cannabis organizations within New York Cannabis United (NYCU) to build an equitable and just cannabis industry for all.

Founder of Herbas Body Care

Miriam Aristy Farer

For Miriam, the path to wellness has always been plant-based. The daughter of a campesino cibaeña who immigrated to New York City, she learned as a young girl that the soil provides for everything — whether in her family’s urban garden in Queens, or on a thriving farm in the Dominican Republic. She held these time-honored remedies close to her heart as she went on to study fine arts and design, and embark on a successful career as an art director for top beauty brands in Manhattan. It was a combination of motherhood – which gave her new purpose – and a twist of fate that led her back to the restorative powers of plants. Intolerant to pain medication, pharmaceuticals were not an option for Miriam. She began to plant anti-inflammatory herbs in her community garden, became a medical marijuana patient, and started to learn as much as she could about the healing properties of cannabis. From there, her body began to heal and her vision of “herb as body care” took root… Herbas, CBD is plant-based body care, grown and made with love in New York.

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Chief Equity Officer of the NYS Office of Cannabis Management

Damian Fagon

Damian Fagon was appointed as the Chief Equity Officer of the NYS Office of Cannabis Management in June 2022. In this role, Mr. Fagon will oversee the social and economic equity initiatives laid out in the MRTA. As a 3rd-generation farmer with a background in international development, agriculture and small business, he has led development initiatives with castor farmers in Jamaica, rice growers in Sierra Leone, and coffee exporters in Guatemala. Mr. Fagon has also launched and advised commercial cannabis operations in South Carolina, New York, and the Caribbean.

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CWI Community Engagement Coordinator

Kayvon Reid

Kayvon Philip-Reid is a cannabis expert and activist based in New York City. He is the Community Engagement Coordinator for the Cannabis Workforce Initiative, a collaboration between Workforce Development Institute and the New York State School of Industrial & Labor Relations at Cornell University. In this role, Kayvon conducts extensive outreach, provides training and support to workers, and engages with a host of industry stakeholders and employers in New York’s emerging cannabis industry. Kayvon leverages his expertise and passion, gained from over a decade of experience in various facets of the industry, to uplift the legacy market and create bridges to enter the legal cannabis space with more clarity and certainty.

How Cannabis Can Impact Your Lifestyle? Panel

The cannabis plant is increasingly popular in spaces where people are looking for natural ways to enhance health and lifestyle. Although it hasn’t left the party scene, cannabis has definitely extended past it. Cannabis users are growing more conscious of purposeful and targeted consumption. This kind of usage has expanded into medical, cooking, mental health, and even workouts. This panel discussion includes specialists who will speak about the many benefits cannabis can have on their lifestyle and what opportunities the industry can provide.

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Communications Strategist and Cannabis Advocate

Imani Dawson

Imani Dawson is a communications strategist and an outspoken advocate for cannabis legalization rooted in social and economic justice. Since launching her company, TCC Media, a MWBE-certified boutique communications and branding agency specializing in political strategy, progressive social issues and legal cannabis, Imani has advised elected officials, non-profit organizations and small businesses, creating and executing marketing and public relations campaigns that win elections and popular support, build brand recognition and influence, and boost positioning, engagement and sales.

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Founder of Kreaky Products

Chica Cruz

If you ever heard about NYC’s favorite small batch plant-based company, Kreaky — then you know that women in weed are here to stay. Grounded in Caribbean recipes and being family owned are just a couple of things that set this company apart from the rest. The founder, Chica Cruz alongside her late mother, started Kreaky right after her grandmother had a slip and fall in a local Bodega Summer of 2016. Chica became a caretaker overnight and made it her duty to care for her grandmother full time. Once her grandmother got better, she dedicated herself to going to the community center with Kreaky to introduce Kreaky products to anyone who was interested in a plant-based alternative. She is motivated to continue serving her community because her vision is a future with limitless opportunity for all women. Most recently she has dedicated herself to a global tour which is brand driven and plans to document her experiences via Instagram so stay tuned for more details and follow the drip on Insta!

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Founder of Hifive Edible Wonders

Chef Ali

Food Is Luv has been Chef Ali’s mantra since she can remember. Her love of food and feeding people came from my grandmother who encouraged me to pursue culinary school when I didn’t know if the traditional collegiate experience was for me. I spent the time after leaving Hofstra University to travel abroad where my passion for food and the professional kitchen was ignited and led me to The Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) in NYC. As a means for a more sustainable, and at first supplemental income, I began to teach culinary classes to both recreational and professional audiences and discovered that the classroom was a way to help people realize the potential that food has to help us achieve and maintain a wholesome way of life. With the idea that food has healing attributes we can apply this to our real everyday lives. Cannabis is an ingredient that has phenomenal healing attributes and I have spent the last 20 years creating recipes and formulas that will, in the words of the great Bill Nye, “Dare I say it…. save the world!”

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Founder/CEO for Global Health & Hygiene Solutions

Dr. Uma

Dr Uma is the Founder/CEO for Global Health & Hygiene Solutions, LLC established in 2006, with a mission to promote wellness and prevent illness. She is an educator, advocate, activist and speaks globally. She created the model TotalHealthCareTHC and runs an Independent Clinic at Uplifting Health & Wellness. where she “Educates, Embraces, Empowers” her patients and public about preventive health and safe effective alternatives including cannabis as a plant medicine. Her mission is to change the Stigma regarding Cannabis and for the world to know about the Endocannabinoid system through education.

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Cultivator and Co-Founder of Vitabudz

Julian Murray

Take Action Workshop 1: Cannabis Job Opportunities Presented by CWI

The legislation legalizing cannabis in New York was a game changer, ending the war on drugs that led to generations of mass incarceration and closed off economic opportunities to communities across the state. It also launched a new legal industry that will create a lot of jobs. In this workshop, you’ll learn about the job opportunities available throughout the cannabis industry, from seed to sale.

Take Action Workshop 2: Ancillary Business Opportunities Presented by CWI

Ancillary cannabis businesses comprise all the other types of companies in the cannabis industry. These companies support plant-touching businesses but aren’t necessarily involved in breeding, growing, refining or distributing cannabis products. They can include professionals like lawyers and marketers, as well as companies that produce packaging or machinery that can improve plant-touching businesses’ processes. In this workshop, explore some of the Ancillary opportunities that will support the industry and make it successful.

SPONSORS

AM Zinerman Logo
Assembly Member Stefani L. Zinerman

Since New York’s medical cannabis program officially launched in 2015, Local 338 has been successfully engaged in organizing efforts to ensure that the jobs in this new industry set a standard for what cannabis careers can and should be, by providing family sustaining wages and benefits.

CWI Logo
Cannabis Workforce Initiative

Cannabis Workforce Initiative mission is to promote and support social equity in the adult-use cannabis market by providing quality workforce development and legal education. The New York State Cannabis Workforce Initiative is a collaboration between Cornell ILR ( Industrial & Labor Relations) and Workforce Development Institute (WDI)

Local 338 Worker union

Since New York’s medical cannabis program officially launched in 2015, Local 338 has been successfully engaged in organizing efforts to ensure that the jobs in this new industry set a standard for what cannabis careers can and should be, by providing family sustaining wages and benefits.

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Ayr Wellness

Ayr Wellness, is a multi-state operator in cannabis with a longstanding goal to be a force for good in the United States. Their mission is underpinned by the recognition that, in order to operate at scale, Ayr Wellness must be mindful of the impact that they have on the communities in which they operate, the environment, the people they serve, and the members of the team.

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The Official New York State Dispensary Showroom Tour

The Official New York State Dispensary Showroom Tour is part of an ongoing adult-use dispensary education experience aimed at cannabis retail dispensary licensees and applicants interested in New York’s adult-use cannabis industry.

RESOURCES PARTNERS

Check out our video recaps of our past events on Rebel Minded TV

Cannaware Event Recaps

Would you like to help make a difference in your community?

Are You Interested In Helping To Educate Your Community About The Cannabis Industry And The Many Benefits The Plant Have To Offer? Than Be Apart Of A Team That Is Taking Action To Make A Positive Impact In Communities And Ensure Everyone Has Affordable Access. Fill Out The Sign-Up Form Via The Link Below And We Will Follow Up With You.

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