Congratulations and thank you for a great 2015.

NCIA’s Inclusion Initiative, headed up by our Minority Business Council (NCIA-MBC), had a good start this year, and we were able to make a difference for dozens of people in the cannabis industry or working to enter the industry. Considering the Council had its first formal meeting only seven months ago, we have achieved a great deal in raising awareness and beginning to take on the mandate of creating a more inclusive industry.

We also have a good start to 2016. We’ve added an Inclusion Initiative contribution option to the registration forms for the 2016 Cannabis Business Summit and have already begun building up the scholarship fund.

But we can never rest on our laurels, and the expectations of the industry are great. There is talk about what else we can do to help promote inclusion in this industry, and now is the time to start the discussion.

The next meeting of the NCIA-MBC will be a planning meeting at 2pm MT on Tuesday, January 19th. To join the meeting, simply call in to the conference call line at (303) 416-5167. (No PIN is necessary.)

With this meeting, we’ll seek to get a little more formal in our efforts. The goal is to establish a representative committee and meeting structure to ensure we are at the forward edge of our work and that what needs to be done is getting done.

In an effort to continue the development of this initiative and grow the opportunities for those who face barriers within the industry, we are putting forward the notion of creating a more formal structure – guiding the development of the NCIA Inclusion Initiative by expanding the Minority Business Council and establishing a less formal advisory committee as well.

Therefore, we seek your input into two areas:

Please review the proposed rules for serving on the NCIA Minority Business Council. Then let us know if you would like to serve on the Council under these rules or would like to stay or become involved with the Inclusion Initiative through the less formal advisory committee.

Proposed Requirements for NCIA Minority Business Council (MBC) Members

• Council members must be employees of NCIA member-businesses
• Council chair must be a member of the NCIA Board of Directors and thus report to and from MBC
• Chair and Vice chair are elected by the Council members
• Secretary is appointed from NCIA staff
• Only one person from any given member-business can serve on the Council (but there is no limit to how many people from a business can serve on the advisory committee)
• Council members must be able to attend at least 3 in-person meetings and 3 telephone meetings during a calendar year
• Council members must commit to a minimum financial contribution to MBC activities (examples: scholarship pledges, in-kind donations, etc.), exact amount to be determined by the Council at an affordable level to all

We believe the optimal number of people on the Council would be about 12, so we are looking for 12 strong volunteers who have a point-of-view and are eager to contribute on these critical issues.

If you own or are employed at an NCIA member-business, please feel free to nominate yourself for the Council. We also welcome your recommendations for others for us to follow through on and ensure we have the best recruits we can get.

Even if you are not part of an NCIA member-business, we invite you to join the advisory committee for NCIA’s Inclusion Initiative. On this advisory committee, you will be invited to every meeting and kept fully informed of action and activities, as well as have direct input into the Council and the Inclusion Initiative.

Please let us know of your involvement and interest before January 11th, so we can schedule a meeting and put structure in place for fuller development.

And as we head into 2016, we invite you to suggest and share resources for the Inclusion Initiative page on NCIA’s website, so that we can build it into a helpful presence for those looking for industry support and knowledge.

Thank you for your interest in the Minority Business Council and NCIA’s Inclusion Initiative. We look forward to expanding and building upon the success of 2015!

NCIA’s Minority Business Council:
Robert Van Roo, Palm Springs Safe Access
Joshua Littlejohn, Accannadations LLC
Dr. Lakisha Jenkins, Kiona T. Jenkins Foundation for Natural Health
Luke Ramirez, Walking Raven LLC