Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin is seeking to direct up to $500,000 in local recreational cannabis sales tax revenues, to help people recently released from prison integrate back into the community.
Bronin is asking the council to adopt a resolution at its Sept. 11 meeting directing fiscal 2024 cannabis sales tax revenue, up to $500,000, to a special account to be used for reentry services.
The 2021 state legislation legalizing recreational marijuana imposes a 3% tax on sales by retailers, hybrid retailers or micro-cultivators, with the money going to municipalities in which the sales are conducted.
Under the law, that money can be used for streetscape improvements and neighborhood developments near cannabis retailers; education programs or youth employment and training programs; reentry services; mental health or addiction services; youth service bureaus and municipal juvenile review boards; or to fund civic-engagement efforts.
In a letter to the City Council, Bronin notes the city and nonprofit Community Partners in Action opened the Reentry Welcome Center at City Hall in 2018.
The welcome center has since moved to 716 Windsor St., and has helped more than 1,000 returning citizens with case management and connections to services.
Community Partners in Action traces its roots back to the formation of the formation of the Prisoners’ Friends’ Society in 1875. Today, it provides services and advocacy for people involved with the criminal justice system throughout Connecticut.
The cannabis tax receipts is expected to replace other city funding that will expire in 2024, according to written responses Community Partners in Action provided to questions.
The Windsor Street welcome center runs on a roughly $750,000 yearly budget, with funding coming from the city, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, the U.S. Justice Department and private donors, according to Community Partners in Action.
According to the nonprofit, caseloads have been rising since the welcome center’s move in 2022, resulting in “challenging” caseloads, as high as 50 for some caseworkers. An ideal caseload would be no more than 30 active participants per staff, according to Community Partners in Action. The growing caseload has left staff stretched thin.
“Every person seeking services from the Greater Hartford Reentry Welcome Center is assigned a case manager who meets with them regularly and connects them to wrap-around services, including housing, employment and substance use or mental health treatment,” Community Partners in Action Executive Director Beth Himes said in an email to The Hartford Business Journal Thursday. “As more and more people hear about our services and caseloads continue to rise, the additional funding could mean the difference between someone getting the help they need versus turning to crime out of desperation.”
Community Partners in Action said it took in $16.3 million in 2022, predominantly through state agencies. It currently employs 227 people.
