Delaware’s social equity marijuana business license holders will soon begin receiving grants to help launch the rest of the First State’s recreational cannabis market.
Of the 125 marijuana business licenses Delaware handed out in late 2024, 47 were earmarked as social equity licenses.
The Social Equity Financial Assistance (SEFA) Grant Program is designed to reduce structural barriers to entry that have historically limited opportunities for individuals and communities disproportionately impacted by prior marijuana laws.
To be a social equity license holder, an individual must have resided for at least 5 of the preceding 15 years in an area with high rates of marijuana-related offenses or been convicted of a marijuana-related offense.
These license holders are legally guaranteed financial assistance throughout the process of opening their marijuana business, and last week, the Office of the Marijuana Commissioner (OMC) launched the grant program to follow through on that promise.
“It will be a benchmark approach — as you do certain things, it opens up pots of the money, along with a flexibility approach that allows us for large capital expenditures to go and move forward in not a benchmark process," Marijuana Commissioner Josh Sanderlin explained.
He says SEFA grants will start in the coming weeks as qualified licensees reach designated operational milestones, helping to fund facility build-out, equipment acquisition and other essential start-up expenditures.
“It's not an overly burdensome process. It will be, give us an idea of what you want, what your plan is for the money, what's your license number, those sorts of things because we have to track the money and give it out to them, make sure that we're giving it to the right folks," Sanderlin said.
The grant program is funded by conversion licenses — which carried $100,000 and $200,000 price tags — purchased by medical dispensaries who began selling recreationally on Aug. 1.
To further support applicants, OMC will be hosting a webinar to assist licensees in navigating the SEFA grant process. Interested participants can register and join the event here: OMC SEFA Webinar Registration.
