Okay, I'm going to start. Thank you, everyone, for joining our cannabis equity workshop today. My name is Monesh A. Kali. I'm a senior planner with the city of Santa Rosa. And my supervisor Emile is also here today from our consultant team SCI group. We have Kyle here and John please and Tristan fully so they will present the workshop today. For you, and can we go to the next slide? I have to read the next slide. So I can explain about our policies. There you go. Let me move this one. I can read it. So, I'm going to read this slide. The city of Santa Rosa is committed to create a safe and inclusive environment free from disruption. We will not tolerate any hateful speech or actions and our will staff to monitor that everyone is participating respectfully or they will be removed. If necessary, we will also immediately end the meeting. If the meeting is ended, we will plan on recording another presentation without participate participants that will be posted on the project website. Also, today's meeting is being recorded. So I will give it to Carl from here. Carl, you can go over the presentation. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Monet and good evening everyone. And thank you for joining us tonight to discuss cannabis social equity here in the city of Santa Rosa. So my name is Kyle tankard I'm a senior consultant and cannabis policy leader with SCI consultant group, and I will be leading tonight's discussion. One of you who are not familiar with SCI SCI is a public finance and urban economic consultant firm based out of Fairfield, California, with over 35 years of expertise since in assistant public agencies here in California with policy planning and cannabis related services. In collaboration with the city of Santa Rosa, we have been working on a draft cannabis equity assessment that will inform the city's development of a local equity program here in the city of Santa Rosa. And then we want to both educate the community about cannabis equity and the assessment that we are conducting, as well as gain insight about the community opportunities and challenges of developing a cannabis equity program. In the past four months, we have reviewed the current cannabis landscape in Santa Rosa, analyzed historical cannabis arrest rates and demographic demographic information to incorporate these findings into an equity assessment. So tonight I will share with you the top line findings from the assessment, and then from there will discuss the common barriers to entry into the cannabis industry and discuss ways we can develop and structure the barriers to entry. Excuse me, structure this, the city's equity program in order to reduce and eliminate those barriers for disproportionately impacted individuals in the city of Santa Rosa. And then lastly, we will open up the meeting for a Q&A session at the end to get the community's input and feedback on developing the city's equity program. So what is the goal of social equity in the cannabis industry? The cannabis prohibition era and criminalization has had a devastating impact on populations and communities across California, including here in Santa Rosa. During this era and even still today, the burdens of arrests and convictions have fell disproportionately on people of color. The long term consequences of cannabis enforcement coupled with generational poverty, education gaps and additional barriers to entry make it very difficult for affected individuals to enter the regulated cannabis industry. So our goal for the city of Santa Rosa is to advance economic justice for populations and communities harmed by cannabis prohibition and enforcement by promoting equitable access, ownership and employment opportunities in the cannabis industry. In order to decrease disparities in life outcomes for these impacted communities and to address the disproportionate impacts on the war on drugs in these communities. So in 2018, the state passed the California Cannabis Equity Act, which provides grant funding for local jurisdictions for the development and implementation of local equity programs. In 2022, local jurisdictions, I'm sorry, in 2022 this city of Santa Rosa was awarded a grant to conduct a social equity assessment and to develop a local equity program. By conducting this study and establishing a local equity program, the city hopes to position itself to secure additional grant funding from the state to provide a variety of services and programs to equity applicants to provide access to capital technical support and regulatory compliance that individuals need in order to access the regulated industry. So very quickly, I'll just kind of go over our scope of the work with the city and the development process in developing a local cannabis equity program so we broke it down into four main steps, and they are outreach and education, cannabis, cannabis equity assessment, program and program development, and then program implementation. So steps one and two, the equity assessment and outreach and education really go hand in hand to get together in order to provide recommendations regarding policy options for the development and implementation of a local equity program. Here in the city of Santa Rosa that enhances and improves equitable access and ensures diversity and inclusion in the cannabis industry. So step one of the development process really begins with outreach and education. In recent years, cities and counties throughout the state have proposed and implemented various social equity programs with a shared objective of addressing the long stand in disparities in the cannabis industry. However, what we notice is that many of these programs have encountered obstacles along along the way, primarily due to inadequate targeting of outreach and insufficient inclusion and engagement of affected communities during the initial stages of program development. So as a result, a significant amount of time and effort will be dedicated to conducting extensive outreach as a part of this process. So several months ago, we initiated a online community wide survey to kickstart this endeavor, which is still open for participation so if you haven't already I strongly encourage you all to take that survey. Additionally, the next phase of our outreach process involves hosting community meetings like the one happening tonight. And then finally, the concluding phase entails conducting individual interviews with various stakeholders from the city of Santa Rosa. Ultimately, the feedback in the input we receive will inform our equity assessment and guide the formulation of our policy recommendations. So your active participation, your insights are crucial to shaping the future, future direction of this initiative. This has established a dedicated cannabis equity landing page on its website to to ensure that the community stays well informed. So this page contains details about the ongoing equity assessment that we're conducting and also provides links to access to survey in both English and Spanish. Furthermore, following the conclusion of this meeting, a video recording along with this slide deck will be made available for viewing. So I strongly urge everyone to visit the city's webpage and again participate in that online survey. And then to keep the public informed throughout this process, the city will be consistently providing updates via the via the website, the city's newsletter and email blast notifications. And by by utilizing these channels, we, we aim to maintain open lines of communication and to ensure that everyone is kept up to date as we progress forward. Okay, and so in conjunction with our outreach efforts as I mentioned, we are currently working on preparing a written cannabis equity assessment report. The primary objective of this assessment is to examine the historical consequences of cannabis related policies and illegalization on communities and populations within the city of Santa Rosa. So by analyzing police statistics, demographics, poverty rates and other relevant factors, the equity assessment will seek to identify the communities and the populations that have been disproportionately affected, and also explore the common factors that these populations face when attempting to enter the cannabis industry. And then ultimately, the assessment will provide valuable policy recommendations to guide the city in establishing a local equity program. Very quickly here. This graphic on this slide illustrates our analysis process for the equity assessment. So we begin by identifying disparities related to cannabis related policies and legalization. We then map areas where cannabis related or arrests and enforcement activities have been conscious concentrated within the city. Then we overlay a map highlighting various demographic factors such as low income minority populations within the city. Finally, we take all this data, overlay their arrest hotspots and demographic data onto one single map. And this allows us to identify the specific communities that have been impacted by both cannabis related arrests and socio economic challenges. And by following this analysis of process, we can gain a comprehensive understanding of the communities most affected by cannabis related policies, enabling us to develop strategies to address their needs and promote equity. So Santa Rosa is a diversity with a multicultural population. So the largest ethnic group in the city is white or Caucasian, comprising of a substantial portion of the residents at 62.3%. The Hispanic Latino population in Santa Rosa is also very significant accounting for 34% of the city's total population. And then additionally, while relatively smaller in size compared to other racial and ethnic groups, the Asian and African American populations contribute to the city's diversity represent in 5.9% and 2% of the population respectively. So in our analysis we began by examining the historical cannabis related arrests in the city of Santa Rosa span in the period from 2004 to 2023. So throughout this timeframe, a total of 4,781 cannabis related arrests were recorded citywide, notably the highest number of arrests occurred in 2010 with a total of 16 or I'm sorry 613 arrests reported. However, following the passage of proper proposition 64 in 2016, which legalized and decriminalized recreational cannabis use, there has been a significant, significant decline in arrests. So this decline can be attributed to the changes in cannabis laws reflecting also a shift in the enforcement approach towards cannabis related offenses within within the city, which is a common trend that we, we have seen across the state. To assess the disparities in the, in the cannabis related arrests across different demographics within the city of Santa Rosa, we compare the percentage of arrests to the total population of each demographic group. This reveals that African African American individuals experienced a disproportionately higher rate of arrests compared to their representation in the city's population. Although they, they only constitute for 2% of the city's population, they accounted for 9% of the cannabis related arrests, which is more than four times their population percentage. In the last looking at the other demographic groups, they were arrested at rates more in line with their representation in the population, indicating a relatively proportional distribution. Really this discrepancy highlights the need to address the disproportionate impact that cannabis related arrests have had on African American communities within the city as well as other communities throughout the city. So as I previously previously mentioned, the primary goal of the equity assessment is to identify communities in the city that have historically borne the brunt of cannabis criminalization. So through the analysis of the historical cannabis related arrest statistics. It's become evident that minority populations, particularly African American populations have experienced a disproportionate rate of arrests. And these arrests have far reaching consequences, limited individuals opportunities for employment, education, and things like housing and this systemic impact combined with the significant financial barriers within the cannabis industry creates a formidable obstacle for impacted individuals seeking to enter the regulated market. So to identify the communities that have been disproportionately affected, we employed three key indicators at a census blocked level, minority populations, low income populations and educational attainment levels. Minority populations as we saw in the previous slides are more likely to face cannabis related arrests, while low income populations encounter significant barriers due to financial constraints. Educational attainment levels also play a crucial role as individuals with lower levels of education may lack the resources needed to successfully enter the industry. So by examining these three indicators alongside the location and concentration of cannabis related arrests, we hope to gain a comprehensive understanding of the communities that have borne a disproportionate burden as a result of cannabis criminalization. So on the next three slides will share the results of our GIS analysis. So this first map here shows the minority populations within the cities. So the darker colors on this map represent a higher percentage of minority individuals, and the green dots on the map show where the cannabis arrests took place in the city. So you can see the majority of the arrests are concentrated on the western side of the city. And there's a correlation with higher minority populations in that portion of the city. So you see the on the eastern side of the city where it's lighter and yellow. So those are areas with less minorities and you can see that there were less concentrations of arrests in these areas. Similarly on this next next map which shows the low income populations. Again, the arrests are concentrated in areas of the city where there are a higher percentage of low income populations. And then lastly, this map here shows educational attainment levels in the city. So the darker areas on the map show individuals who are over the age of 25 who have not received their high school diploma. And there's a strong correlation to where these arrests are taking place in areas where there are lower educational attainment levels. So next I would like to highlight some of the top barriers, equity applicants face when trying to enter the regulated cannabis industry. Remember to enhance and improve equitable access and ensure diversity and inclusion in the cannabis industry. The city's program must reduce and eliminate these barriers. So the barriers that we've identified can be summarized into the following categories, financial, technical, criminal and other. Financial barriers such as access to capital and finance in access to real estate, in addition to the high fees and taxes are one of the most significant obstacles, contributing to this are past criminal histories, which also present financial damages for individuals due to their inability to access finance in loans or even sign in the lease for a location to operate. Next technical barriers, such as the lack of general business skills ownership expertise and industry knowledge needed to operate and run a cannabis business also remains a big problem. You layer this technical, technical wallet knowledge gap of knowing how to run a business and learning the industry specific best practices on top of the cannabis legal and regulatory complexities of both the state and local governments. So the problem is just exasperated. And then lastly, the transition from an illicit from the illicit to the regulated legal cannabis market is often hampered by distrust in government, especially for those who have been victimized by cannabis enforcement and by those enforcement government laws. So really restoring trust between disproportionately affected communities and the government is essential to the success and the effectiveness and overall participation in the in a local equity program. So what can the city do to help individuals overcome these barriers to entry in order to level the playing field for disadvantaged individuals. So from our analysis of the common barriers to entry and also the successes and failures of the equity programs established elsewhere in the state. We've prepared a list of potential program services and benefits that the city is evaluating in order to address the financial technical and knowledge based barriers. The financial assistance will play a pivotal role in supporting the success of equity applicants. As part of our recommendations, the city could establish a loan and or a grant program. These programs can serve as valuable resources to equity applicants, providing them with the necessary financial support to overcome the barriers they face in entering the regulated cannabis industry. Loan programs can offer zero interest or low interest loans or even micro loans that enable equity applicants to access capital for startup costs, license and fees and other expenses associated with entering the industry. And then on the other hand grant programs can provide a non repayable funds to assist equity applicants, particularly those from our marginalized communities to help them establish in sustain their canvas business. So in addition to the loan and grant programs, the city could establish a comprehensive technical assistance program. So this program would aim to provide a wide range of business development services, industry specific training and legal support tailored specifically for equity applicants. The goals. The goal of these types of programs is to equip applicants with the necessary training knowledge and resources to success successfully launch and operate their cannabis businesses. So the technical assistance program could offer a developed curriculum and a training program that covers extent essential aspects of starting in managing a business within the cannabis industry. So this may include topics such as business planning, financial management, marketing and branding compliance with regulation and operational best practices. So by providing comprehensive training, hopefully equity applicants are able to gain the skills and the expertise required to navigate the complexities of the industry. And then furthermore, the program can extend beyond initial training and offer ongoing support to ensure the long term success of these business. So this support may include mentor mentorship programs with existing operators, networking opportunities, access to industry experts and legal assistance to address any specific challenges or concerns that equity applicants may encounter throughout their journey. Increase in business ownership is, you know, one key outcome for equity programs, but developing a robust, robust workforce development program is also crucial in ensuring that businesses within the cannabis industry have access to skilled and local employees. Addressing the lack of training for high quality, well paying jobs is really essential, particularly for disadvantaged individuals who may face limited opportunities compared to others. To facilitate the entry of individuals into the cannabis industry on the establishment of training programs really becomes essential. These programs should be designed to equip individuals with the necessary skills and knowledge to succeed in various roles within the industry. They can include job specific training, professional development and opportunities for hands on experience. By focusing on workforce development and creating equitable employment opportunities, the city can foster a more inclusive and thriving cannabis industry, while simultaneously addressed in systemic barriers that have prevented certain opportunities and individuals from access and meaningful and well compensated employment opportunities. And then lastly, ongoing outreach education and awareness campaigns to support the city's equity program, in addition to developing programs such as recorded expungement will be very important to the success of the city's industry. So definitely at the end of my presentation, we would love to get your input and feedback on what strategies that you think would be most effective in the city of Santa Rosa in order to address these issues of equity regarding the industry. So now let's delve into our final topic for tonight's discussion, the eligibility criteria for equity, equity applicants. So the eligibility criteria will determine who is able to gain access and participate in the city's equity program. It's really crucial to approach the establishment of these criteria with care and thoughtfulness. Again, the primary objective should be to prioritize and serve the communities and populations that have been disproportionately impacted by the cannabis enforcement. So to ensure the effect and effectiveness of the eligibility criteria, it must be well structured and clearly defined. This is to encompass the majority of individuals who have been adversely affected by the war on drugs, and really striking the right balances, essential because a, a, a narrow definite definition may inadvertently exclude deserving individuals, while a broad definition might allow individuals who might need, might not need the assistance to participate and benefit from the program. So here are some key criteria to consider. So individuals or immediate family members with a prior conviction history. Should there be a low income status associated with the eligibility criteria? Should there be a residency criteria? So should the city's program be limited to individuals who have previously or currently are a resident of the city of Santa Rosa, or should it be limited further to certain communities or areas within the city? And then next is ownership. So this should equity applicants be required to maintain a certain percentage of business ownership. And then lastly is eligibility tiers. So should the city develop certain tiers of eligibility in order to prioritize the most impacted communities and individuals for the city's program. So in conclusion, let's discuss our upcoming next steps before I open this discussion up to the public. So in the following month, our focus will be conducting one on one stakeholder interviews. So we're currently working with the city and we're in the process of compiling a list of stakeholders. So please let city staff know if that's something you're interested in participating in. Once the stakeholder interviews are completed, our aim is to finalize the equity assessment report by the end of August. So this report will consolidate the findings, our recommendations and key insights gathered throughout the assessment process. So I appreciate your involvement and commitment to the city's effort to develop a local cannabis equity program. And I believe together that we can drive positive change and help to promote equity in the cannabis industry within the city of Santa Rosa. So at this time, I would like to open this the discussion up for public input. So as I previously mentioned, your input is very important to the isn't a very important part to this process. So we definitely encourage you to ask questions, provide your personal experiences, your input and your feedback. So there are several, several ways you can participate. So if you would like to speak, you can please, if you click on the hand icon at the bottom of your screen. And then once we see that your hand is raised staff behind the scenes will grant you access to unmute your mic and ask your question. If you're not comfortable with speaking that's okay. You can either type in a question, or provide feedback by clicking on either the Q&A icon at the bottom of your screen, or by using the chat icon. So to get this discussion going here are a few items we would like to get feedback on. So what what do you think are some of the biggest barriers to entry facing Santa Rosa residents. What are the vital components that are needed for the implementation of a successful equity program here in the city of Santa Rosa, what type of assistance or program benefits would be most beneficial to equity applicants. What are some of the qualifying eligibility criteria for applicants that should take priority in receiving equity assistance. And then are there any improvements that could be made to the city's existing cannabis regulatory program, their regulations, licensing process or zoning code. So, if you have any questions, please ask them now. Kyle I've gone ahead and unmuted the microphone for Christina who has her hands raised so Christian. Go ahead and use that feature. Hey, can you hear me. We can apologize. This is Moses and Christina here at Africali culture. I had, we had to log in on the same computer, but I just wanted to say like Kyle I appreciate you're doing the study on the city. You know and you were dead on as far as a lot of things I heard, but I still feel like as first criteria based on your discovery in in the blacks and the brown people in the minority populations here that we should be first. In that criteria, you see you know I'm saying because that has nothing to do with black people or like, you know, and I have family members that have gone through arrests and different things are such you know my little brother did 10 years. You know what I'm saying over some steps. Is just for me to not have that be the first thing in a criteria and especially after you did such a beautiful presentation on the imbalance of Sonoma County. You see what I'm saying. Yes, and so most of is, if I understand you correctly, what you're saying is, you know, due to the arrests disparities, why aren't black individuals allowed access to the program first is that is that kind of what you're hinting at. I'm just saying based because based on your discovery and the imbalance and how that the arrests of black black men, you see them saying women's Sonoma County. I think we should definitely have a firsthand edit and so should I know a lot of brown people to that have experienced the same you know. Yeah, so, so unfortunately, state and federal law prohibits, you know, cities and counties in this, even the state from developing access to programs that is based on race. And that is why the criteria, you know, most likely will focus on individuals who have past criminalization related to to cannabis arrests and also include other factors such as a low income status and be limited to individuals from the city of Santa Rosa. But, but I mean shouldn't, based on your findings though, you don't think that black people deserve that option to be the criteria in that list, because that's not even on that list not even first. You know, I mean, yeah, absolutely one of the criteria that where we are first and being given that being that we have been arrested the most we have been. You see what I'm saying we are in a position where equity is really a thing that we need to remedy this racial imbalance we have in America, do you see what I'm saying. Yes, this was my biggest fear in which I've talked to the mayor. I've talked to different people throughout the town in terms of it is important to recognize the racial imbalance of this town and do that justice and do our job in terms of remedying that I'm not saying why people don't deserve the equity, but I think racial equity has always been the reason why we got to this point at first right. Exactly and you know what now we are in that criteria. Yes. And, and as I mentioned previously, federal and state law prohibits, developing a criteria for access to a program. That is based on race. And so, so that is why equity programs up and down the state do not include race. And so what we are trying to capture when we develop the eligibility criteria is, is so that we include the African American population and other communities and populations within Santa Rosa that have been impacted. I appreciate that I guess I guess. Yeah, I hear what you said. And Moses I would love to talk to you further so if you are interested in participating in the one on one stakeholders interviews I think you're a perfect candidate. We have your contact information from the city so I will reach out to you. Are you welcome to reach out anytime and I appreciate you. All right, thank you Moses. Okay, thank you Kyle the next person going to allow to speak we have a Sam data pass. Yes hello thank you so much. I'm, unfortunately, if you go to the next car, and I'll raise my hand again but I'm about to go through the only. Sorry. Thank you, of course. Many Rivera, you have given you've been given permission to speak. Many are you able to unmute yourself. If not that's okay we'll just go to the next person has their hand raised and that's going to be Lisa. I've gone ahead and given you permissions to unmute your microphone. Hi yes thank you so much for allowing us to speak. I really appreciate the presentation. I'm an executive member of the hustle farmers range and a consultant for farmers throughout California have been helping them with grant money. And you guys have a really special jurisdiction with the types of applicants you will be getting. My experience with equity programs throughout California. Direct grants have been at the ones that have had the highest impact for individuals both trying to enter into the marketplace but also businesses that are currently in the marketplace but struggling people who have put, you know second wages on their house and just really struggled to get their taxes paid and to become compliant, more so than loans, even low interest rate loans are incredibly difficult for people to stomach taking out when they already are in hundreds of thousands of dollars and just trying to become legal. Additionally, a lot of your folks that work in Santa Rosa actually live outside city limits. So it would be great if people whose businesses reside within Santa Rosa could also access this grant money as opposed to people who just live inside the city limits. And please reach out to the hustle farmers range we have a lot of farmers and applicants throughout the county and state who have worked incredibly diligently with other jurisdictions on their grant program we'd love to be a resource for you folks. Okay, thank you Lisa. Okay, the next person I will go ahead and allow to unmute their microphone is a brand. We can hear you. Okay, perfect. So my questions were, where can we find out how to access these resources like is it one website or is it a multiple different places that we should go. So the city has developed a landing page on their website where they're putting information about the equity assessment that we're conducting. In addition, there's links to the survey that's live right now in both English and Spanish, and then the recordings from this presentation and the slide deck will also be uploaded there. So anytime there's updates, the city will update that page. I'm so money. Can you actually copy the link and put that in the chat. Oh, that'd be perfect. Thank you. And all that information will be on this landing page on the city's website. That's correct. And that's the best way to like stay stay up to date. And then I would say is there any, is there anything that you could recommend for someone to to continue to help advocate for these resources like what could they do what could one do. That's, you know, that's a great question. I think as the city moves through this process, and looks to actually develop and implement their program I think support at, you know, future public meetings, making your voice heard at future council meetings regarding this topic is definitely a forum to provide your support for the city's equity program. I'll just add on to that. I see there's some notes in the chat to about the county's program so as Kyle mentioned, we're just doing the type one grant right now which is just the assessment. And then there will be a question on whether we apply for the type two grant. I've had conversations with the county of Sonoma and potential partnership with them. So we do get grant money that they would be able to facilitate that for us. So we're looking at those types of partnerships and watching their program very closely. Okay, thank you. I'll go ahead and move on to Manny. Manny, you should be able to unmute your microphone and state your questions or comments. Yeah, can you guys hear me. We can. Okay, great. Sorry about that. I was my setting for off earlier. But I got, I got on here. So, have you guys identified. So my name is Manny Rivera. I'm a current licensee. I hold the distribution license in Rosa. And I also have a small cottage indoor in Lake County also in the process of working on trying to open a retail location. I've been basically paying rent on an empty building for the last three years. The process to sustain my structure. I'm wondering, based on believe me, first-generation Mexican American impacted by the war on drugs in that city of Santa Rosa. I'm just wondering if you guys have areas in these geographically speaking that are already identified as highly impacted by the war on drugs and by other issues. For example, have you guys looked at including those areas as a criteria?  So as the city develops their eligibility criteria for the program, they'll have to decide whether the program is narrowly defined in that, you know, individuals from certain portions or locations or areas within the city that are to be the most impacted. Those individuals who currently live there or have lived there are able to get access or whether the program is a little more broad than that and it, you know, limits access to individuals who are currently living in Santa Rosa or have previously lived in Santa Rosa. Okay, so that all that stuff you're trying to figure out basically. Exactly. So that will come in the later phase as Amy said, as they work, work to decide whether to develop and implement that program and whether there will be some coordination with the county of Sonoma. Okay, and then are you guys, have you guys taken any input by any current licensees in regards to some of the hardships and some of the experiences that we've had over the last few years in regards to, you know, just the taxation by the city, by the county, by the state, you know, regulatory bodies, stuff like that. So we have sent an email blast with the online survey to all current and prospective cannabis operators operating within the city. And then as I mentioned, we're looking for interest, interested individuals who would like to sit down and do that one on one stakeholder. So if that's something you're interested in, definitely please provide the city with your contact information and we'll set up a time to talk about that because that's definitely. I would love to do that one of the major biggest hurdles that I experienced personally is, you know, coming from a first generation Mexican American background my parents were immigrants you know we don't have a lot of information in regards to how to navigate those application processes. We don't have a lot of knowledge in regards to how corporate structures work and, you know, if there was some allocation of funds to have a city fund, like some sort of legal council or some sort of legal, representation where people could ask questions in regards to simply how to get those applications filled in, aside from all the other, you know, hardships and difficulties but that for me was in the very beginning, a big huge curve. And I made a lot of mistakes, you know, it cost me a lot of time and money, and it would be really helpful to have something like that funded by this by the city. So that people who, you know, don't have access to that right away or maybe don't even know where to start could have some sort of a starting point because that's, that's extremely difficult for a lot of people. And that that's just, you know, based on, on background, you know, a lot of people have that information handed down by their parents or grandparents but a lot of people in certain minority communities we don't have access to that information so I'd encourage you to look at that and consider that for these types of programs. Absolutely. And, you know, as I, you know, mentioned in my presentation, you know, cities like San Francisco, Oakland in LA they're developing these robust technical assistance programs that teach individuals about business development and the skills that they will need to operate a business as well as teaching them about the industry. And, you know, really these programs should prepare individuals about the cannabis industry and what they're getting into what they're invested into so that they're able to make a decision whether to enter the industry or not, and then also provide the resources, such as application assistance and pro pro bono legal services to help equity applicants navigate the application process and succeed and open up their business. So I Yeah, and then And one other thing to possibly just because it seems like, you know, anybody who's in that position to be able to apply for these equity programs. One of the things that you could also consume perhaps creating a system or a program where anybody who comes through these programs and gets granted or accepted maybe if there is a way to fast track or speed up their application process. That would be extremely helpful because a lot of people We've put basically our entire life savings on the line and now as you're seeing what's going on in the state. We have as of this year 30% of licensees did not even renew their cultivation licenses so you don't pretty much guarantee that those 30% of those people have completely failed in a system that was not really designed for anybody to succeed. And, you know, it's really sad for somebody who, you know, picks themselves up from their bootstraps per se, and goes into these processes, you know, trying to pursue a dream and then doesn't make it out on the other side. Due to over regulation taxation and all the other, you know, setbacks in regards to just what comes along with with legalization, you know, of something like cannabis. Just because it's been so difficult to navigate, you know, when, when the DCC first rolled out all of their. What do you call that? What's the word I'm looking for? Regulations. There was like seven different entities that we had to communicate with and they weren't communicating with each other either so it was extremely difficult to get any answers.  I appreciate that you guys are looking at this. I know a lot of us have been asking for these programs for a long time. But you know, time is really of the essence, you know, some of the people that are still in there are not going to be here in a year. It'll be extremely difficult to come back from that, you know, just, just in terms of, you know, being motivated or, or, you know, wanting to come back from it, it's been, it's been somewhat traumatic for all of us. So, anyways, that's all I got to say I really appreciate you guys holding this call for us and I'd love to give my input. So I'll figure out a way to reach out to you guys. Okay, thank you, Manny. Thank you. Thank you. All right, our next person who will be able to post their comment or question is Sam De La Paz. I have given you permission to unmute your microphone. Yes Hello, can you hear me. We can. Great. I just posted some comments in the chat I'm actually one minute late officially for a dentist appointment for my son so I've got to go in. My name is Sam De La Paz and vice president of the Hesse farmers Grange was was the interim president for a short time for Sonoma County Cannabis Alliance. And I've been an avid advocate in the state of California for small legacy farmers and and equity in cannabis. And I just want to state and really emphasize many of the comments that were made by previous speakers Moses Lisa and Manny, I know that the dormant commerce clause prevents us, you know, and other, you know, other legality issues prevent us from prioritizing race or skin color. I think there are creative ways, especially based on on based on a rest history or family arrest history that we can prioritize these populations that have been impacted by the drug war. And besides that, although we have the statistics on the black community which I think is amazing and I really appreciate the presentation I just want to say that I think it was extremely throw it's one of the best I've seen and heard to date in cannabis so really serious congrats on that and an appreciation for that really taking a meaningful approach is so so incredibly important, but I will say that I think we're going to have a hard time getting hard numbers on the Latino and Hispanic populations due to the fact that maybe they, they were, I can say for sure they were largely harassed, not always arrested as essential workers and farm workers. I'm sure that law enforcement had it had a decentralized, you know, were maybe just decentralized to arrest, but not necessarily to harass or further impede their, their growth and generational wealth building as far as a population is I think that this needs to be looked at very carefully. I'd like to also just emphasize and I put my comments in the chat. Just to focus on direct grants as was mentioned before no reimbursement grants these communities and populations do not have the ability to pay upfront and be reimbursed they really their need to there need to be planning phase grants and implementation phase grants.  And those very much needs to be, I think there does need to be that ownership percentage requirement. I don't know what that looks like expedited expungements to make sure that those affected directly by the drug war have access business and skills training and education as many stated and emphasized very, very heavily. This is one of the biggest burdens and barriers to entry along with access to capital. So those are kind of my biggest notes and takeaways and I appreciate the time sorry I was trying to be as concise there as possible. Thank you so much. Thank you Sam I appreciate, appreciate your comments and then if you're also interested in speaking with me further. I would be happy to set up a one on one interview with you. I would be honored. Thank you. Thank you. And we'll go ahead and move to Natasha. Hi, my name is Dr. Natasha Kalu and as Amy Lyle can attest to I've been involved in the cannabis program here in the county since day one. I am fortunate and unfortunate to be a licensed holder. At the end of this year, I may no longer be a licensed holder. I'm attending this meeting and on this call because it's not so much my own welfare that I'm concerned about, but it's the welfare for the communities that have been impacted most. I feel like a lot of pressure is being applied to broaden the inclusivity of who these these this funding is available for and I would just like to emphasize the need for public outreach and education, because though I was able to get through and become licensed. I'll be very teetering. It's a very difficult process and there's a lot of us for different reasons whether it's we have relatives or so forth. The immigration status so forth like we need to be able to have the resources available to us to navigate the system and who's currently left in the pond. Are those folks that are able to navigate the system and so many of us cannot and so we need you guys to actually be available in a way that makes us have access to the resources that are often not so much available to us. I just want to emphasize that it's been mentioned. But I also would like to also just second to not broaden the inclusive to city, but really cone in because there's so few of us minority applicants and license holders in this county, and we're the ones that are teetering on the brink of extinction and we really need the support at this time. Thank you. Thank you Natasha. All right, next will be Dustin. My name is Dustin Gibbons. I am on the executive committee of the Hessles Farmer's Grange, and on the board of Sonoma County cultivation or Sonoma County cannabis alliance. And yeah, I just would like to go a few things. So first, the types of grants, right? A few people have said a lot of the same things that that I feel right. The idea of loans is going to be an unsuccessful program, right? Direct grants are really the way, you know, especially for operators that are already operating. We have so many needs and are, you know, really just getting behind further and further, right? Mostly, you know, like a legacy self funded operators, right, people that have been doing this for a long time, where where the bank of knowledge comes from, right, the experience. So if Santa Rosa is going to have a successful cannabis program in the future, right, it needs to include these people. And so, yeah, you know, just want to really reiterate what some of my colleagues have said as far as direct grants and not loans. As far as use of those direct grant funds, you know, I would like to see us be able to, you know, everybody's got their own situation, right, their own place where they need to allocate those funds. I think it should be, you know, we should be able to use them to get caught up on taxes, right, either, or, you know, license fees. You know, facility improvements, equipment purchases, you know, we're all operators, not all but, you know, Sonoma County and Santa Rosa especially does have a lot of legacy operators that are bootstrapped, right, to have built their own facilities or they were part of penalty relief and they had facilities and, you know, got them online and licensed. And then, of those, you know, a lot of applicants still need to get their annual licenses. So, if we can use those funds to, you know, find a pathway to annual licensure, whether it's through, you know, whatever the hurdle is, whether it's SQL, or, you know, any of the myriad of problems we face. And, you know, I just also wanted to speak on the goals of the program. I urge you guys to, you know, people are focused on existing operators, helping get them where they need to be, right, which is successful and able to, you know, shore up an actual cannabis program and pay taxes and, you know, have this successful program. And, you know, those people, they've already been invested in the community into the program through all of their time, all of the consultants, all of the local contractors we've worked with, you know, to, we've more than invested in the city. And so I would definitely like to see them taken care of. You know, and yeah, just those impacted by the failed cannabis policies that we've had so far, right, whether that's local, county, or state, or federal, right. And then, as far as qualifications for applicants, you know, I see where you guys are coming from with the residency but I don't really know if I agree with it. I think more so, it should be, you know, businesses that are in the city of Santa Rosa. Right. I mean, that's where that's the only businesses you're going to be able to apply the grants to anyway. I believe. And so businesses in the city of Santa Rosa. And so prior cannabis arrests, right, I feel as either, either by the, you know, for the operator themselves or, you know, family, right household, because that that's like acutely impacted by the war on drugs, right, and by the by canvas policy in California.  Right. If they've come here from another county or say, then, you know, already vetted right by other counties.   I know, I don't know what your access to these other counties is. But, you know, to reach out to origins council. You know, we have, but there's seven, eight legacy producing regions that are represented by origins council. They'd be happy to put you guys in touch with other programs that are successful. So yeah, that's, that's really all I had to bring up. I appreciate you guys for giving us this platform. And for, you know, like Sam says, putting so much thought into it, it does seem like has been thoughtful so far and I hope to keep that with. Thank you, Dustin. I appreciate your comments. Okay, we're going to go back to Christina and Moses. Hello. Can you hear me? We can hear you. I guess I just wanted to add, like, I believe all of us can tell you how, what a beautiful job you guys are doing, right. And how wonderful it is. It feels like to me as a black person, it almost feels like reparation and daylight. You see what I'm saying? Just because we've been operating for a long time and dealing with the county as well. You see what I'm saying in the county McCall and everybody specifically told us we weren't invited in that in those in that piece of the pie, so to speak. So I think to see you guys actually build for, because the majority of black and brown folks are here in Santa Rosa. You see what I'm saying. And yes, Sonoma County, but it's important. We need people that are going to see this for what it is. You see what I'm saying. So it's important that we, we separate from county as we were told by county that, you know, you want to add on to our concern is just that the demographics and the needs of Santa Rosa jurisdiction are just different from the needs of the county. So if that's going to water down or change the disbursement of funds away from the racial equity that we're pushing for because it is what we saw was, you know, the disparity is so huge there. Then that's our concern about joining together with the county. Thank you so much. Thank you, Moses. Thank you Christina. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we'll go on to Manny. Hi, I had, I had a couple of questions I realized I forgot to ask while I was on number one. I got on the call a little bit late so I apologize I didn't miss a couple things. Did has it is has it been determined, whether you need to be a resident of the city of Santa Rosa or if the business needs to be in the city of Santa Rosa. No, that has not been determined. So, so is that essentially when we finalize our equity assessment report, we will make recommend policy recommendations to the city to inform the development other programs so those decisions will come later down the road as the city decides when to develop their program. Okay. Okay, thank you. And then my other comment was that I've heard it come up a couple times and it's something that I'm dealing with now is penalty relief. There is some people that are still on penalty relief. Myself, for example, I do have a cultivation license that is in penalty relief. When we first acquired this business and this license, we didn't even know what penalty relief was. We didn't even we weren't even told that it was in penalty relief. So we kind of inherited a, you know, this huge problem, I guess, and that was part of the learning curve that you know affected us and something that I think happens to a lot of people when they're trying to purchase. You know, or start businesses is knowing how to vet the actual property itself. So we're currently still in penalty relief. And there's a lot of pressure by the county in the city to have our facility redone to certain standards and just given the state of the you know, the industry over the last few years where we've had a, you know, somewhat of a collapse. I know that a lot of the operators who had plans to, to rebuild or remodel certain facilities that just haven't been able to because the, you know, we the income has not been there. So we've been more focused on just making sure we can try to pay our taxes and stay in, you know, operable. I think that that should be considered strongly since it's something that the city, you know, has a has a vested interest in accomplishing with the licensees is, you know, who is in penalty relief can some of these funds go to people who are in those penalty relief programs. So that there could be a win-win situation there with, you know, the city or the county, whatever it is, and for the licensee themselves. And then lastly, what was I going to say, I think that might, I think I forgot what is going to be the third thing but that yeah yeah so I think I think if it comes back to me I'll raise my hand again but I think that's it, that's it for now. Thanks Manny, I just wanted to address that just because there are some differences in the county program in the program we have at the city of Santa Rosa. The county program does have the penalty relief situation and that was basically an ability for for operators that were already in existence before the cannabis ordinance to continue operating until there was. And so we don't have that situation within the city limits. And so I think what you're suggesting is that we, if we build a program, create an opportunity for those that are in the county's system who have been operating under that penalty relief program is that kind of what you're suggesting. Yeah, so for example, I'm a resident of the resident I've been in Roseland for 15 years. But my, but my, my actual business is outside of the city of Santa Rosa I have one business that I've been working on. I'm struggling to get going I don't know if I'm going to be able to complete that program or that that business itself that's in in Santa Rosa in the city but my license. By cultivation licenses outside the city. So, you know, that's why I was trying to figure out, and you answered that question you haven't figured out which, how the requirements are going to go but for me personally being a resident of. Roseland, which is now annexed into the city which wasn't before. So it's now that's changed for me personally. You know, I would advocate for myself personally to be able to have access to those funds so that I can stay in business because my cultivation license affects the other businesses, the other business that I'm trying to open. You know, so they're, they, they work hand in hand right so. That's why I was asking which if you guys had determined that but you guys said you haven't determined that yet. So, you know, obviously, if I'm given the opportunity to put my input into this process, then I would advocate for for that. Great. Thanks, Danny. Thank you. And then it looks like we have a comment from Erica in the chat she's unable to share her comment verbally so she wanted me to read it. So I'll go ahead and read that. So Erica says I'd like to add that I would like to see the current operators slash applicants most negatively affected by the war on drugs to be given the highest prior priority and a next tier focused on long term operators. With that said, an overarching umbrella that any individuals who are able to gain assistance should have been a resident of our county, if not city for at least 10 years and currently residing here, not just a business. Thank you Erica for your comments. And Manny you have your hand raised again you should be able to go ahead and comment. Yes. So yeah, I remember I was going to say, so I wanted to encourage you. There is some equity programs that have been in existence for a while. And some of those have been complete failures. For example, and I don't know if this has changed but in the city of San Francisco when the equity program first rolled out. There were a lot of operators who were finding people minorities or whoever who had previous convictions, cannabis convictions or whatever and had been affected on the with by the war on drugs, and they were having these people apply. They were being fast tracked and then, you know, six months a year later, these applicants were bought out of the license or kicked out of the license. And they actually weren't even able to participate in the process itself or to benefit or profit from being on those applications so you know if given a chance if you guys have the opportunity to kind of look at what have been some of the failures in the past I would encourage you to do that as well. Absolutely thank you for that comment Manny and that's something you know we'll take a look at in our assessment report, and you know we are aware of, you know, the applicants that were taken advantage and in San Francisco and that's kind of where the ownership share ownership share percentage comes in, you know what does that look like, should an equity applicant maintain 51% ownership to prevent that expert, expert toy, excuse me, exploitation, and then you know other cities such as Long Beach Beach have. And I think San Francisco now have put limitations on, you know, 510 years before an equity license can be transferred or so sold, where other cities have made it to where you can only sell your license to another equity applicant to keep those licenses in the hands of equity applicants. So very, very good point there and we'll, we'll take a look at that. Yeah, um, yeah and consider, yeah there's, you know, there's got to be a way to be considerate of people's percentage of ownership maybe if there was, you know, rule where you couldn't just be kicked off and you had to maintain but I know of several companies where there is, you know, it's extremely difficult to have a company by yourself or just with one other person to have 51% would give you control of the company, which is often difficult.  So it'd be, I think it'd be important to consider that to not take that opportunity away for people who have less equity in their business. Good point. Thank you, Manny. Okay, thanks guys. We have no other hands raised at the moment. Okay. I think we'll wait a few more minutes to see if we get any questions through the chat or any hands raised. And then, if not, we will end the meeting tonight. I guess I'll speak now and I just want to thank everyone for showing up tonight and participating in this meeting. I want to thank everyone that raised their hands up. We've got Natasha. Kyle, can you just put on the last slide where we have my email and our city. Oh, yes. Great. Thank you. All right, go ahead Natasha. We can hear you. Well, I'm not Natasha. Can you hear that? Yes. The hand is raised under her name, but you can go ahead and speak. Okay, my name is Omar Malfalon. I've been involved in community building Sonoma County, original native from Bonville, Mendocino County. And we did a lot of work with community radio station KVF, which is actually celebrating 50th year anniversary this year. I just want to know like the outreach pattern that you guys are using to get, be more inclusive and integrate the people that are victims of the war on drugs. What's that look like? And how are, how is this effort being held accountable for making sure all voices are heard. And I think that's my biggest concern here when it comes down to who's going to get the benefits. We all look for a medium, a healthy medium, but people are listened to and heard, you know, because I think it's easy to have zoom and be able to get on a call but it's really hard to be, you know, a farmer who put everything on the line to feed their families, and not even have a chance to speak. So I just, I think that's my question. How do you guys, when you make that decision if you have to be a Rosemarie or Santa Rosa native, what's going to make that happen? And what are the mediums, did you guys reach out to KVF? And you guys reached out to what organizations involved in equity programs for other, you know, annexation or unincorporated areas, have you guys utilized? That's my question. Thank you for those comments and questions.  So the city sent that through email blast to current and prospective operators within the city. And that was also advertised through the city's newsletter and advertised through the city's social media accounts. As I mentioned previously, we are also following this meet following up this meeting with one on one stakeholders. So as the word spreads, we're happy to set up one on one interviews to get more of those personal experiences to include in the incorporate that into our assessment report. And the efforts, are there other local counties that you guys are following their model so we can study and look forward to their results. So when we, it's at a taxonomic county and we know what to expect. Currently, the city has not begun to formulate their eligibility criteria. Our assessment report will provide provide recommendations it will provide analysis of other equity programs in other counties other cities what they have done, what has worked what has not worked in order for the city to have, you know, enough information and sound policy recommendations to develop their criteria develop their program develop the services and the benefits that their program will provide. Is there like a, like a public, you know, like Santa Rosa, you see the little green dots on your guys's map was mostly affected in Roseland. Okay, we have to happen to be in Roseland. I'm just wondering if we could do this publicly in an open table at a community hour that everybody can participate come in person and put in their radio station with the city of Sonoma County equity program, you open to that maybe. It would be wonderful if you're able to help us do that we're, we'd be happy to participate. We're very early in the process we're looking for feedback so anything you can do to help us would be fantastic. I will definitely reach out and let's make that happen. Great. Thank you. Okay I'm not seeing any other hands raised at this time. So, on this slide I have some contact information. So if you have any questions regarding the cannabis equity assessment, please feel free to reach out to Monet. Her email address is provided on the slide, and maybe money you can provide that in the chat as well. And then if you have just general cannabis program questions, feel free to email the city at cannabis at srcity.org. Thank you, Kyle we are getting some more hands raised here so let me start with Bobby. I've given you permission to unmute your microphone Bobby go ahead. Hi, my name is Bobby Hughes. I'm the owner of NC or one of the owners of NCM Corp. We DBA is Sog Army. We've we've qualified for like equity, because we've been affected by the war on drugs we're we all mostly have done prison time for cannabis related charges for cultivation or possession. And with the city. I'm just now learning of this from my other operators that I'm friends with. And would you guys be considering maybe deferring fees for us or like giving us some kind of assistance the same way that the state does or who could we talk to if we already, you know, qualify for the $10,000 tax credit that's going to come out this year in 2023 and then we're already receiving, you know, like equity license application so it's free, or whatever. So, Bobby, you know, one, you know, our report will include a variety of recommendations, one of that being feed deferral or even fee waivers, a lot of equity programs that have been developed elsewhere in various cities and counties within California provided that as a benefit to equity applicants. So that that is something the city will have to consider once they develop their equity program. Gotcha. Thank you guys for considering this I think it's really great. Thank you Bobby. Okay, thank you and we'll go back to Christina and Moses go ahead. I apologize to inject one more time, but I guess in any in terms of I wanted to see what what are the chances and possibility of utilizing actual local people in this study and getting this thing right, instead of hiring outside input like you see what I'm saying is it's really possible that we could work with folks on this platform to figure this whole thing out, you know what I mean from Omar to Sam to Natasha and everybody, you know what I'm saying. Everyone to Lisa everyone has been on. I know we have great experience locally. So I just wanted to encourage you guys to first look within you know, the blacks and the brown folks in on here. Like I feel like it might be. And if there's money to give out to anybody I think they should stay here even in the little that you guys have been doing this assessment you see what I mean. And if we could speed this thing up so we save farmers from losing their, you know, if we could speed it up and get this money faster it would definitely help our whole community here in Sonoma County and beyond you know, absolutely. And Moses I will be reaching out to you to get your voice and then you know I've written down contact information from others who have spoken already and that are interested in providing their input because definitely having that local perspective is what we're looking for. Appreciate that. Thank you again. Thank you Moses. Okay. So I'm not seeing any other hands raised. Wait a couple more minutes, and then we'll end the meeting. But again thank you everyone for your participation tonight. And I remember I just saw a question about if the PowerPoint tonight will be also posted on our website, and we can do that also we can post the PowerPoint on our website and the meeting tonight to be also posted on equity. Canada stage. All right, so I'm not seeing any other questions come through. But again, feel free to reach out to Monet. If you have any additional questions. And I just want to, again, thank everyone for coming. And I hope everyone has a good night. Thank you everyone. Have a great night.


The Public Theater has been supporting this from day one. So big thank you to the Public Theater. And a few years ago, HowlRound came on board and helped us livestream. And they are also joining forces, HowlRound and the Public Theater to bring us this format, which is so thrilling and exciting because I'm getting to meet people who don't have time to come to the lobby of the Public Theater. Although some folks who come to the lobby of the Public Theater are here like Carol. Hey Carol. But anyway, so Watch Me Work is, oh, and you know, I write things, lots and lots of different kinds of things. I'm a showrunner for TV, I've written plays, movies, films, songs for a band, my band, all kinds of things. So during this show, I like to have us work together. And then we talk about your work and your creative process. So what we don't have time to do is to give specific critique on things that you have created. But we do have plenty of time to talk about your process and give you some pointers, feedback, encouragement on that, something to help you keep going during these very interesting times we are living in. So Audrey will tell us how to contact me. Yep. Yeah, totally. So if you wanna ask a question, all that you need to do if you are inside of the Zoom is click on the raise your hand button. It should be in a participant tab, likely at the bottom of your screen if you're on a laptop or at the top if you're on an iPad. If you have trouble finding it, feel free to send me a chat and I will help you. If you're watching the stream on HowlRound.tv, then you can ask questions via social media. You can tweet at the Public Leaders Twitter or on our Instagram, or you can tweet at Watch Me Work SLP with the hashtag HowlRound, H-O-W-L-R-O-U-N-D. And that's it. Oh, SLP, you're muted. Okay. One second. We will vamp. Yep. Okay, there we go.  Bad idea. Okay, so here we go. Because you were making it sound so interesting, like click the participant tab. I was like, let me see what that's like. I know. Bad idea. Here we go. Here we go. We got 20 minutes to work. Everybody ready? And go. You're, my timer went off. I was that too early? No? All okay. One second, I'm gonna text you. Thank you. Wow, so sorry. That was really funny. That was funny. It says you can't unmute yourself because the host has muted you. I'm like, Audrey. So sorry. It's okay. Thursday, all day long. It is all day long. We have a 23rd all day long. So yeah, any questions other than how to unmute yourself if the host has muted you? At least we had the answer to that. Now we know. Yeah, I know. We have a question from Ray. Go for it, Ray. Hi. Oh my God. Thank you so much for doing this. It has been such a pleasure to tune in. My question is about structure for a piece. I find that once I know what needs to happen scene by scene, I have no problem just sitting down and writing it. But especially in the earlier stages of developing a new play, the hardest thing for me is creating an outline. And specifically, I'll know like a few key moments that I need to happen and the nitty gritty of just like what needs to happen before this for us to understand it. And in between these points, I was wondering if you could shed any light on that process. Okay, I know, I know. It's weird. I won't meet myself anymore today. I'm just gonna. I think that how everyone's gonna make you a host and it'll work. Oh, yeah, I got a promotion. Yeah, Ray. So you have sort of the big building blocks, right? And you're wondering how to fill out the middle bits. Yes. Okay.  Where are you right now? I'm from New York, but I'm finishing my senior year at Northwestern. So I'm in Chicago. You're in Chicago, right. So if you wanna go from somewhere to somewhere in Chicago, right, you know where you are, you know where you wanna go. And then you just have to look around and see like, well, how am I gonna get there? You know? Just ask a question. Like Hamlet wants to get revenge for his father's murder, right? You know, Hamlet. Yeah, I do, I was taking notes. Okay, no, no, no, no. You can, whatever, you don't have to look at me. But Hamlet, you know, wants to get revenge. He wants to find out who or he wants to get revenge for his father's murder. And so it could be easy if he was like a hotheaded dude who didn't think very much and he had a knife or whatever. And he just goes after, he says, ah, it must be my uncle, right? That's a really short play, right? But because he's a thinking guy, i.e. because Shakespeare is really diving into his character a little bit more. You see what I mean? So his character makes the, kind of unfolds the steps along the way. So if he were a hotheaded guy, it would be a relatively quick play maybe. But because he's a thinking dude and he has, he vacillates and he has to consider every angle, the playwright is gonna take us through lots of different thought processes that Hamlet is having, right? Cause that's a big part of the play. Now, the disclaimer is of course, I'm not a Shakespeare scholar. I just read Shakespeare for fun. So if your teacher or whatever doesn't agree with that, whatever. My point is that the idea is if you wanna develop your plot, you gotta develop your character, okay? So if you're thin on your plot, you're probably thin on your character, okay? If you're thin on, yeah, okay? You're thin on your plot. And if you feel like you're really rich in your character, then maybe you're thin on your setting or context, you know? But usually it's character. Usually people think, yeah, I just gonna, like someone I knew years ago, I had these great characters and now I gotta find a plot for them to be in. You know, as if the two things were separate and they're not, they're, one is part of another, okay? So dig deep into your characters, find out what's going on with them and the specifics of their personalities or their situations will give you the made more points along the way, okay? Because if I'm in New York, if I were driving to California right now and I love Dairy Queen, right? Yeah. And I probably stop at a lot of Dairy Queens and that's part of the story. Did you get it? Yeah, thank you so much. If I was in Dairy Queen, I probably wouldn't stop at Dairy Queen. But I have to see the Grand Canyon. I'd probably stop at the Grand Canyon, you understand? Yeah. That's so helpful. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Thanks, Ray. All right, next we're gonna go to Nell. Go for it. Hi. Hey, Nell. Hey, Nell. Hey, Nell. Hey, Nell. Hey, Nell. Sorry. So I'm really happy to be a part of this. I'm coming all the way from Atlanta, Georgia. So I'm really excited right now. But I guess a little bit about me. I went from kind of writing academic essays. I was on the track to get a PhD in African-American literature. I switched gears, moved from, I went to Carnegie Mellon, moved from Pennsylvania all the way to Atlanta, Georgia in hopes of starting a career in the entertainment industry. So right now, like I'm just starting out as a comic. I would like to move into screenwriting. And I was just wondering like, how do you balance, I guess, goal setting and planning with doing when you're learning something new? Because I feel like there's a huge, we're not huge because it's still storytelling, but I guess the kind of storytelling, there's a learning curve. So you went to Carnegie Mellon, you took classes? I'm just trying to track it. So I went to Carnegie Mellon, I got a master's in literary and cultural studies. I was going to apply to the PhD program, decided not to, and like right after the program ended, I moved out to Atlanta and started a career in comedy. That's great, like sketch comedy? Are you a stand-up comedian? Yeah, yep. That's fantastic. Oh, more of you, please. That would be great. That's so great. That's really fun.  So you're writing, I'm guessing you're writing a lot of your own material. Yeah, so you're doing that. You just gotta, I mean, set yourself a goal when it's something new, I would say be modest in your goals, you know, but be able to stick to them.  You probably have, do you have a group of comedians that you can out-work or try out material? They don't necessarily do, like, screenwriting or anything like that, some of them are into sketch writing. But they're, I mean, Atlanta, there's tons and tons of people who work in the industry. So what's great about that is you can, you can keep, you know, set yourself a goal, like you're gonna write a, what are you working on now, a screenplay or a teleplay or what are you working on? Right now I'm working on a screenplay. Great. Okay. So like a 120 page kind of thing or what? Great. Okay. So when are you gonna get it done? How close are you? Well, that's the thing. Like I, I guess I get it caught up in like the how to. So like I'm writing it out, but I won't, like I don't think it's necessarily like the right format and everything. Okay. Well, there are lots of books. Cool, that's cool. Lots of books. I mean, you know, there are programs or writing programs or online courses you can take to, you know, especially in the beginning stages, but at any point in your career, we should always be into taking a class. This, this, this, what do you call it? This weekend, I'm taking a fiddle class. Don't ask me why. Except that I, so it's always good to take, you know, always good to be learning new things, right? Especially in your case, if you want to have it as a career, fiddling is something I do just for fun, but you want to do that as a career. So take an online class, maybe, you know? So you can learn things like format. You don't want to not know the format of a screenplay. There are also screenplays that you can, I guess download online now. You can get screeners probably. Well, you went to Carnegie Mellon, but that wasn't your program. But you can get, you can see this, the format of a screenplay on the page. So you want to just know those kinds of things. You can take an online course.  So I would say make a goal, tell yourself where you're going to finish your screenplay. But in the meantime, learn the form, what it looks like on the page. That's easy. That's kind of easy. That's really easy. And get yourself a group so that when you're finished, you can read it to them, okay? But say you're going to write just like two pages a day. Keep your goal modest, achievable. Okay, set a goal, keep it modest and achievable and make your deadlines every day. Two pages a day. You can be done in what? 60 days. What's today? 23rd. 23rd.  I mean, I'm guessing you have at least five pages. How many pages you have already? I have about, I wanna say maybe six pages. Great, there you see, I was close. So there you go. So you can be done, you know, July, right? Yeah.  Okay, there are lots of great books out there to teach you the format of screenplay writing. Lots of really good material out there. Okay, you go on Amazon, check it out. Treat yourself to two or three books if you don't wanna take a class, okay? Okay, so make the goal to make the right but also gaining that additional information. Yeah, yeah, you gotta do both at once. You're not gonna, unless you wanna stop and do research, you know, just make the two pages a day, books that are gonna tell you how the format, what the format looks like, and just keep writing. Make your goals.  You know, I'm not saying stop writing and get a group of people together. All these things are running concurrently, okay? I mean, come on, we live in a world where we multitask. Here we are doing, I mean, come on, I'm telling you, write, set a goal, learn the form, join a group. It can all happen concurrently. It's all helping you reach your goal, okay? Okay, thank you so much. Okay, thank you. Thanks now.  I just, the background noise of the park and everything, I just don't. All right, up next we have Devin. All right, Devin, go for it. Hi. Do I, am I unmuted? Yes, you can hear me. Hi. Thank you so much. I consider these meetings a silver lining of the pandemic on self-isolation and happy birthday, Shakespeare. So here's my question. Well, I'm a playwright, but now and then I have projects that are not plays that sort of speak to me and need to be written. So I've been working for a long time for, I hate to say it, seven years on a book, a memoir, and it's about stuff that happened in our family. And so my question, and now and then, going through this wilderness of my own experience, my journals and everything, I'm almost done actually, but sometimes it gets bleak. And I'm wondering if you ever find yourself writing tough, bleak stuff and how you cheer yourself through that project, through that and like what you're, you know, I don't know, do you go to Dairy Queen? I mean, like what do you do to get yourself through those hard parts of writing stuff? Right, if you've had that experience, I don't know. Yeah, right, all my stuff, if you know anything about my work, it's all very upbeat and happy, joyous, and there's always like a dance party at the end. Yay, hooray, and nothing ever sad happens ever in anything I've ever written. Actually, Devin, I'm totally, it's completely opposite. I know that. Yeah, so, yeah, so, you know, it's the desire to exercise the energy is what pulls me through. Say that again, please. The desire, the need to exercise the energy. Exercise. Exercise, the energy is what pulls me through. You see what I mean?  It's my writing, when I write, it's very much like that. I have a fever and the body is working to, you know, get the virus under control or expel it or you have a splint or something more mild in your finger and you're working to expel the wounded thing. So it's the need to expel the wounded thing that keeps me, that powers my writing. So, you know, sure, it's a heavy thing, it's heavy.   An eight-part TV show about Aretha Franklin. Yeah, let's call SLP, she can do it, you know.   You know, I get called to do these heavy or a poor game best, yeah, adapt that, rewrite that. Sure, no sweat, I'll just, you know, I get called to do these really difficult, laden, heavy topics. And it's the desire to just make it right, tell the truth as best I can. That's what powers me through. So sure it's heavy and daunting, sure. Sure, you know, but I feel like we're, you know, we're in the company of warriors, you know. You know what I mean? Some writers, sure, they're writing like, you know, I don't know, all they write is rom-coms and don't get me wrong, I love a good rom-com and even a bad one, but I really do actually. But, you know, those of us who are called to work on, you know, heavy topics.  Who else is gonna do it if not you? Okay, hey, thanks so much. That's beautiful, and yeah, thank you. Thank you, Devin. All right, next we've got Jonathan. Go for it, Jonathan. Hi there. So not about structure this time, but this time I, so I've had this idea about writing a sequel to The Hairdy Ape, actually. And it's been through this time that I actually found why I feel like that is a thing I need to do. Weirdly enough, but I'm curious about how to approach writing a sequel based on something that's so famous or based on something that is so legendary and just, I feel like I know the answer of what you would say, but I feel like hearing it from you might be a good thing. And just what you would maybe recommend. I would love actually Jonathan to hear what I might say. I knew you might. Come on, tell me, tell me, tell me. So tell the story. What skin do you have in the game? What do these characters want? Ask them why they want to do, why they're after this. And then write that tale. And don't worry about whatever it else is.  That's perfect. You get a gold star. That's exactly what I would have said. My master class with SLT. No, those are exactly my little talking points for that subject. That's exactly right. So here we go, Jonathan. Think about what your characters want. Think about how much skin you have in the game. Be respectful to the original writer. Know that they are with you. Stay focused on the story. And at the same time, be okay with making it your play. But don't do so out of a need to be interesting, which I think is the death of anything good, actually. You know what I'm saying?  And keep your hand on your own pulse. Why am I doing this? You don't have to articulate that, but just hopefully it'll remain to be a beautiful and honest thing. Yeah. Yeah, and it was, it's been through some of this that's been helped me to kind of flesh that out. And so I've appreciated that. And yeah, I just was kind of, yeah, I appreciate all the things that, the nuggets you share in all of this because I feel like they do, I've been listening, so that's good, but. No, good. No, and it's, I mean, you know, I think we can, inspiration can come from anywhere. And I think if you wanna write a sequel to a great play, that's fine, you know? There's lots of, you will hopefully write many, many, many things in your long and beautiful career. And if right now you wanna write that, I think that's great, you know? That's totally cool. Also, I would add to those things that I have already said and that you've so beautifully repeated, I'm so impressed is set yourself some goals, like we were talking to now, you know, set yourself some goals and Ray, you know, set yourself some goals, make them achievable. And that will help. That will help you kind of move along. Okay, okay, great. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thanks, Jonathan. Thank you. Thank you, Jonathan. All right, up next we've got William. William, can you hear us? Yes. Hi. Hi, how are you? Bill, hi. Hi. Hi. I haven't seen you since the fall book theater. Where are you living, man? I'm at the University of Maine. I don't know.  Maybe that's why we stick with it. Congratulations. Oh, I'm so happy for you. Thank you. Well, I have a question about an issue. When we went out to public, we had all these native playwrights there. Right, right. And I'm getting to a point where I'm turning my back on mainstream theater because I'm not really getting what I need. Right. What amazes me now, and I brought this to Teresa, TCG's Teresa. Yeah. Attention. I said, you folks are worried about playwrights, native theater, but all of these reservation communities are producing plays left and right in their own languages. Oh, nice. But they're not open to the public. Uh-huh. And I've been focused on just doing community work. Right. I helped develop the young playwright by the name of Molly and Dana. She had a play called Molly that was premiered at Yale during the Native American Festival they had. But I'm getting to a point where I'm turning my back on mainstream. And I don't know if that's right because here's the issue I have. I'm running into where we've battled the issue of commercialism versus community. Yep. And for native communities, community is your lifeblood. Right. And so there's this huge conflict because what I'm seeing is the remains of colonialism within the standards of theater. Even here at the University of Maine, I'm teaching in the English department, but they won't hire me within the theater department, which is kind of weird. But out of a liberal arts school, there are 27 faculty in the English department and I'm the diversity. Oh, great. Yeah. So it's amazing that we still have these situations. And so I'm kind of looking at the possibility of doing an article on native theater after this pandemic. How do we redefine ourselves? But do you find that difficult that either within an African-American community, you have to redefine yourself all the time? Well, the virus of colonialism is deeply embedded in our communities.  And the more marginalized you are, the deeper it is embedded. It is attached to our every cell. To shake it is a life's work. I look at mainstream theater sometimes and I go, really? That's supposed to be us? That's, you know what I mean? So there's a lot of disconnect because I think we as artists have equated being successful with how much money we make. And we're playing right into the hand of the man because how much are you gonna sell your soul for, you know? And we, people in my community, we're quick to, yeah, sure, you know? How fast, how fast can I make my buck, you know? And how much can I elbow my brother or sister out of the way because, you know, I gotta be on top and she can't be in the room if I am and, you know? So it is deeply, deeply a part of what our day to day. It is a difficult struggle. I think the best thing to do, I mean, what you're doing, you know, if you turn your back on mainstream theater, I don't think that's a bad thing, you know? But also the tricky thing is when you go into your community, and I'll just speak for myself, when I go into my community, I am at, on one hand, overjoyed to be in the community and horrified at the amount of hatred with the community. We can't talk about that because it's not cool. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, because I've been working with the Penobscot here and I've been granted status of an elder. They look at me as an elder and they've given me three eagle feathers since I've been here, working with them. And what amazes me the most though is that they're still trying to find the vessel for expression. They're still trying to find that vessel for expression. And I did that all my life. And it's very frustrating because when you go to the theater company, they say, well, that's great. It's a great play, but we have no Indians. So we can't do it. Or it's a great Indian play, but we really don't wanna deal with the native politics. And so there's always these catch 22 that make it almost impossible. And yet they wanna talk about inclusion and it never happens. Oh, by the way, I'm on Facebook, threewilliam.yellowrow, I've been trying to contact you. Okay, see, I'm not on Facebook. I'm like on Facebook, so not really. Okay. But it's okay, I can find you now. Yeah, I wanna send you some work. Okay, okay. And show you what's happening within the native communities. All right, man. But I think, I mean, for me, the best thing I do is I just keep working and keep trying to find ways to tell it like it is and keep trying not to be too discouraged when members of my own community try to shut me down. Because that's the worst. It's one thing to get put down by the man, but it's another thing to get put down by the sister of the brother. So it's just something that, and again, this is not like, we're not talking about like writer's block, which is kind of a luxury almost. You know what I mean? Yeah, it is. How do I get to that point, you know what I mean? Or how do I meet my deadline?  And so it's just good to acknowledge that in this context and just, we'll keep talking about it, okay? Okay. Blessings to you, sister. Yeah, you too, man. That's great. Thank you. All right. Up next we've got Chandra. Go for it. Hi, SLP. Chandra, it's such a, it's an absolute honor to be speaking with you. So thank you for this. Thank you. So I have been working in theater for a long time. I'm currently in a TV writer's fellowship to transition into television writing. And I wanted to hear from you, what were sort of the skills that you took from theater into the TV room? Like what do you feel like, was easily transferable? What were things that you felt like were different that just would be helpful for someone who's making that kind of leap? I think the most helpful thing, transitioning, I mean, doing theater and film and TV. I mean, film and TV are pretty close in my mind. But in a way, it's a lot like theater. I was never like a long-winded writer, okay? Even in my plays. I was always filing it down to the absolutely essential words, absolutely most essential action. I would start, you know, you cut deep into the scene, you start where it has to start and you get out as quick as you can. That's been my writing in my plays anyway. Cause you have the meat of the play always. It's always like bristling and intense and, you know, ah, like that. That helps me a lot with TV writing and screen play writing. Because you wanna be economical. Also, you wanna see it, see it as much as you can. It's a visual medium.  So when you see your story, it's not perhaps long, delicious monologues where the character is standing there, you know, going on and on about something beautiful, but she is actively doing something and you can see her in a landscape trying to affect something, achieve something, you know? So you just have to be leaner, I think, you know, or just focus on that. It's pretty much that's pretty much the most helpful thing. Great, thank you so much. Thanks, and good luck with your screen writing. I appreciate that, thank you. Thanks, Chandra. All right, we've got about five minutes left and we're gonna go to Celeste. Hi, Hazel B. Happy tourist season. Yeah, I know. How you doing? I'm good, how are you? I'm good, are you in Queen, where you live? I'm in Brooklyn. Brooke, I'm sorry, Brooklyn, okay, cool. Good and pretty, don't be sorry. So I find it really difficult and frustrating to talk about my plays, especially in a simple way and I kind of feel like I should be better at it by now. I'm just wondering if you have any advice about sort of pairing back and clearly articulating about work. Right, it's so funny Celeste, you know, I've known Celeste for a while and only now is your Canadian accent coming out, sister. It's very interesting. No, no, no, no, I can hear it. I could never hear it until right now. Really? Yeah, true. Which words did you hear it in? About, about. I'll work on that. No, no, we love it. It's lovely, we love Canadians. Come on, Canadians are better than Americans. Sorry, did I just say that? Yes, I did.  What are you doing with your body? In the moment that I'm speaking? Yeah, in the moment that you're speaking. Oh, it's blank, no thoughts. No thoughts, but what in your body, oh, see you said it's blank, no thoughts. I said, what are you doing with your body? Bless your heart. You said it's blank, no thoughts.  Look, you're flat, what are you doing with your, right, I wonder if you could practice talking about your work, standing up.  Matt, Matt, Libby, right? No, jacket. Jacket, okay, what, you have an elevator in your building? No. Okay, okay, you have a sidewalk outside? Yeah. Right, okay, walk down the sidewalk with him, go from one end of the sidewalk to the other, and say, okay, I got it, it's your elevator pitch, it's your horizontal elevator pitch. Okay, Matt, this is the story of my play. So there's this, see if you can see if you can be moving your body, right, while you're walking and talking to a good friend about your play. I think you gotta allow your play, the story of your play to trickle into your body and get a little, sort of move it out of your, because your play is a really beautiful and poetic and conceptual and interesting and, it's true. So you gotta just maybe go for a walk and talk to a friend. Okay, I'll try it. Okay, also think in big story points. This is the beginning, right? It's about this character and this character, right? And she was trying to erase her memory, I'm sorry, I'm not talking about your place, but she had everything, and then it, and then it, and then the end, then it, and then it. So think in big story points, think of beginning, middle, and end, okay? Try to tell it just in terms of beginning, middle, and end. Also you can use, I cleaned up my desk so I no longer have my little census reminder card, but you can use little cards where you write just the plot points on your cards. There you go. Okay. Okay, okay. But I think taking a walk, especially now that it is tourist season, happy tourist season. Thank you so much.  Okay. And keep the details to a minimum. Got it. Does that make sense? Okay. Yeah, thanks. Thanks, it's good to see you. Yeah, see you soon. Thanks, Celeste. All right, we've got about a minute to go. Do we have 10 more more? We should wrap up for two. No, let's go, let's go. All right, Jess. Jess. Oh no, there we go. Hey, Jess. Hi. So my name is Jess. I'm currently a senior at Holford and William Smith and I'm not a screenwriter, but I am a poet and a visual artist. And a lot of the work that I do is around race, gender, and I try to like tackle specific things within grammar and the English language. One thing that I love doing is lower casing America. Like, I know doing things like that, you might not have as large as an audience as you'd like, as some of those things are considered like anti-American, anti-patriotic. So I guess my question is, how do you frame an audience and what would you consider a success when your consciousness and your thoughts are considered radical? Yeah, that's a great question, Jess. What do we consider success when our consciousness and our thoughts are considered radical? I mean, Jess, getting the work done, being able to have a conversation or instigate a conversation with people who may or may not be like-minded, it's a wonderful conversation to say, I'm lower casing America, let's talk about it. Let's just, let's have a conversation. I mean, William, we're talking about a minute ago about how difficult it is to talk about what's going on in the community really. Because people don't wanna talk about it. So sometimes you just have to say what you gotta say and there might be blowback from the status quo. There might be blowback from your own community, however you define that. But I think success is actually being brave enough to tell your truth. That's success. That's a huge, great thing that you would do for yourself and for all of us, you know? Definitely. So you gotta keep the writing going, you know? Whatever you do, poems, plays, novels, movies, whatever it is, you know? And keep bringing those questions to us and in getting us to talk about those kinds of things. Because I think one of the greatest things that we can do for each other as artists or for the world as artists is get each other to, get each other to think and we can get each other to feel, you know? Think beyond our standard way of seeing the world, you know? That's a great thing. But it's also something that a lot of people don't like. You can tell a lot of people don't like to think these days. Yeah. So. Thank you. It's a challenge. Fair enough. Yeah. Thanks so much, Jess. All right, it's 602. All right, it's 602. How about you? How about you? As a reminder, sign up every day by 3 p.m. Eastern time and I will send you the link between 3 p.m. and 4 30 p.m. and the sign up is on publictheater.org. Fantastic. Okay, thanks, guys. See you tomorrow. Thanks, everyone. See you tomorrow.