Page 82 - BusinessWest August 18, 2021

ways to measure the impact of this industry, with the number of licenses and the volume of sales being only a few of them.
Others include the positive impact on the real- estate market, with cannabis operations bringing a number of idle or underutilized properties — from retail storefronts to former paper and textile mills — back to productive life, with the promise of more at venues that include the massive for- mer JCPenney property at the Eastfield Mall.
“Being from Western Mass., being from Spring- field, and knowing Holyoke, I think one of the obvious returns has been investment in brick and mortar, whether it’s been an old mill building as a cultivation-and-grow facility to some of the new retail facilities that you see popping up,” Stebbins said. “There have been many healthy examples of how this has led to increased investment in com- munities that might have been struggling with underutilized properties that weren’t helping out the tax rolls.”
He cited examples of such dynamic reuse in Holyoke, Sturbridge, Southbridge, and several other communities, while noting that behind each of those walls are jobs that didn’t exist three years ago.
One of the industry’s best qualities, he went on, is the opportunities it offers to different con- stituencies, when it comes to both jobs and entre- preneurship — within the industry and support- ing it as well.
“The cannabis statute obviously wanted to a heavy emphasis on hiring those who were dispro- portionately impacted by the war on drugs,” he explained. “We are in the middle of our applica- tion phase for our social-equity program, which gives individuals from those neighborhoods an
opportunity to explore being an entrepreneur
in this industry, looking at a management track, looking at an entry-level job track, as well as ancillary business; maybe you don’t want to actu- ally be a cannabis retailer, but you might be an electrician, and what job opportunities and busi- ness opportunities are out there because of this industry?”
Stebbins acknowledged there are certainly some barriers to entering
Joint Ventures
Reflecting on the past several years, Stebbins said he’s had a remarkable opportunity — one that has placed him on the front lines in the development and maturation of not just one new industry within the Commonwealth, but two of them.
this industry, especially when it comes to capital and access to it, and he lauded the CCC and the Legislature for efforts to create loan funds — some of them from revenues generated by the industry — and other programs to ease access and remove some of those barriers.
“Cannabis has created a wide variety of jobs — testing jobs, cultivation jobs, retail jobs, product-manufacturing jobs. And there’s also the fact that the industry has the ability to take root across the Commonwealth and not just in specific regions or specific, identified communities.”
“Some great work has
been done, and we’re not taking our eye off the focus of making sure those opportunities are available for social-equity applicants,” he said.
These qualities separate the cannabis industry from gaming in some respects, he went on, add- ing that, while both have created jobs, the canna- bis sector has created more opportunities in more regions and in more cities and towns — and also more types of opportunities.
“Cannabis has created a wide variety of jobs — testing jobs, cultivation jobs, retail jobs, product- manufacturing jobs,” he said. “And there’s also the fact that the industry has the ability to take root across the Commonwealth and not just in specif- ic regions or specific, identified communities.”
It’s been a rewarding experience — and a learning experience — on many levels, he said, adding quickly that he has a great deal of energy and passion when it comes to finding solutions and helping new businesses grow, reach their full potential, and be successful.
That’s true of both sectors, but especially his latest assignment — a cannabis sector that has certainly taken root, both literally and figuratively, but will inevitably suffer growing pains. u
George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]
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