HOME | CannaBronx

CannaBronx is a bold, multi-strategy vehicle that was founded to ensure that the communities most impacted by the war on drugs are at the forefront of realizing equity and truly benefit from this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to shape New York’s cannabis industry from the ground up.

We believe in a future where the very community members who have been most impacted by the criminalization of marijuana can heal from generations of trauma and be at the front of the line to build community wealth, economic and immigrant justice, health, and beyond.

mobilize

Photo Credit: Eddie Garcia Conde

mobilize.

CannaBronx believes in lifting up the voices of those most impacted in the Bronx to advocate to the city, state and federal government in developing the regulations that will inform the implementation of the emerging cannabis industry. You can find some of our recent mobilization work here:

Read this letter from a coalition of cannabis equity advocates to the New York State government sharing our assessment of what is needed to successfully and meaningfully implement the MRTA (Marihuana Regulation & Taxation Act).

Co-signers: Cannabis Social Equity Coalition - NYS, All That Jive, Inc., Cannabis Justice Equity Initiative, Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative

NYS Budget & Cannabis

Read our official submitted comments to the New York State government in response to the New York State Office of Cannabis Management’s Proposed Regulations for Adult Use Cannabis.

Co-signers: TakeRoot Justice, All that Jive NYC, NYC Cannabis Industry Association, Social Equity Empowerment Network

Comments to NYS OCM

Learn about the steps we took to collect community input and advocate for New York State to focus on social equity in the regulations associated with cannabis management.

Mobilization Meeting #2

learn

learn.

Learn more about who we are, our values, and the communities we’re serving:

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These reports by the Pratt Institute analyze socio-economic conditions in the South Bronx. Both recommend cannabis equity as a justice-driven development strategy and lay some of the foundation for CannaBronx:

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learn.

Learn more about who we are, our values, and the communities we’re serving:

These reports by the Pratt Institute analyze socio-economic conditions in the South Bronx. Both recommend cannabis equity as a justice-driven development strategy and lay some of the foundation for CannaBronx:

press

press.

Read about CannaBronx's work on cannabis equity in the media:

[Daily News] Bronx cannabis advocates, licensees concerned over wait for legal weed dispensaries

[The City] The Legacy Pot Seller’s Lament

[The Brian Lehrer Show] Legal Cannabis Sales Begin in NYC

[Syracuse.com] NY’s Women in Cannabis: Kavita Pawria-Sanchez

[The Hunts Point Express] Bronxites Fear Being Left Out of Legal Cannabis Industry

[Patch] New York's First Cannabis Retail Showroom Opens in The Bronx

[Syracuse.com] NY Cannabis Insider’s week in legal weed for March 10, 2023

connect

connect.

justice@cannabronx.org

@canna.bronx

our journey

Photo Credit: Eddie Garcia Conde

our journey.

CannaBronx is the brainchild of Wanda Salaman, Executive Director of Mothers on the Move, a visionary leader in the Bronx for decades. For the last 5 years, Wanda has been working with many other leaders in the Bronx and beyond to advocate for the decriminalization of cannabis and envision a new future for community members who were incarcerated as part of the war on drugs, along with their families. Working with co-founders and community experts such as Siddhartha Sanchez, Taleigh Smith, Kavita Pawria-Sanchez and Rose DeStefano, we’ve built a foundation of partnerships with the community, cannabis industry, government agencies, regulators, academic institutions philanthropy, and advocates to develop real-world applications for our beloved Bronx. CannaBronx was founded in 2022.

Kavita Pawria-Sanchez

is the CEO of CannaBronx and a civil rights attorney with 30 years of experience as a community organizer, government leader and social justice consultant. Kavita has designed and implemented over $50M in social equity programs serving New Yorkers. Kavita studied public policy at Cornell University and human rights law at CUNY Law School.

Wanda Salaman

has been the Executive Director of Mothers on the Move since 2002 and has been organizing with low-income tenants and marginalized youth and undocumented women in the South Bronx for 3 decades. An Afro-Boricua powerhouse, Wanda hails from Puerto Rico, arriving in the US when the Bronx was burning in the 70s where she started organizing the girls on her block to clean up an abandoned lot to form the neighborhood’s first girls’ baseball team. Wanda is passionate about developing leadership among people of color at the intersection of education, environment, housing and economic justice.

Siddhartha Sanchez

has dedicated the last 20 years to serving the South Bronx and other low income communities, grounding his work in immigrant and communities of color. Siddhartha was born and raised in Washington Heights and is most passionate about environmental, economic and intersectional justice issues. He has worked in the public, philanthropic, private and nonprofit sectors to create lasting change for marginalized communities of color in the Bronx.

Rose DeStefano

is a social worker with an MBA in Sustainable Business, driving systems change in the Bronx. She has over 20 years of experience organizing and working with the community to support greater economic mobility. She’s also a grower, lover of plants and generational wealth-building models.

Taleigh Smith

is a strategic planner, grant writer and environmental consultant with over twenty years of experience in the non-profit sector, including shaping international climate change policy and negotiating with developers to integrate environmental standards, local hiring and opportunities for youth. She launched the Bronx Green Contractor Association and the Bronx Youth Green Jobs Academy, promoting environmental literacy, climate science and renewable energy.