Hochul to NYers: ‘Believe in government again’
Offi cials provide details on ‘visionary’ cannabis workforce training initiative
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | SEPT. 3 - SEPT. 9, 2021 15
BY BILL PARRY
Social justice and economic
development came together
at The Healing Garden, an
urban farm in Far Rockaway,
where community youths
grow produce on an abandoned
city-owned lot on Beach
45th Street, providing produce
in a southeast Queens
food desert.
State Senator James Sanders
chose that location and
“made history” as he joined
Cannabis Hub to launch the
first-of-its-kind cannabis
workforce training in the nation.
His “Breaking Ground:
Cannabis Education Initiative”
is for individuals who
want to start a business or
simply get a job in the emerging
cannabis industry coming
soon to New York state, and
made possible by the Marijuana
Regulation and Taxation
Act (MRTA).
Sanders presented the details
of his collaboration with
the Cleveland School of Cannabis
that will provide a free,
world-class education primarily
to community members
who have been disproportionately
impacted by cannabis
prohibition.
“Let this process begin,”
Sanders said. “The war on
drugs was fought here; let the
war on poverty begin here.”
The initiative will provide
three education modules that
will serve 25 students per cohort
in an eight-week program
teaching cannabis cultivation,
dispensing and extracts
and infusions.
Each program requires
one hour of live streaming instruction
per week and online
pre-recorded classes from 7 to
8 p.m. beginning Oct. 6.
“If you don’t have a computer,
I encourage you to use
Queens Public Library,” Sanders
said. “At the end of this
course, you will have a certificate,
so you can be employed
or move your own business
forward, from a legitimate
school, not Billy Bob’s school
on the corner.”
Sanders explained that the
teachers who devised the accredited
program are the “best
and most respected leaders in
the cannabis industry,” having
fine-tuned their already
immense expertise at the
Cleveland School of Cannabis.
Assemblyman Khaleel Anderson
endorsed the initiative.
“This is a visionary program
that we’re bringing,”
Anderson said. “This is an
opportunity to train up to be
Queens’ next business leaders.
It’s an opportunity to right the
wrongs that have been done
to our people for decades. It’s
powerful that our neighbors
and community members adversely
impacted by cannabis
prohibition will gain priority
access to this training program.”
Anyone wishing to apply
for the Breaking Ground
initiative can visit here. For
more information on Cannabis
Hub or the Cleveland
School of Cannabis, send an
email to info@cannahubedu.
com.
“There is a Chinese proverb
that says, ‘The best time to
plant a tree was 20 years ago.
The second best time is now.’
You don’t want to miss out on
this opportunity, my friends,”
Sanders said. “Cannabis is going
to be one of the most rapidly
growing industries New
York has ever seen, and those
who are not paying attention
will get left behind.”
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Governor Kathy Hochul
said her number one goal in
office is for New Yorkers to
believe in their government
again, after she took over
as the first woman in the
state’s highest office, following
former Governor Andrew
Cuomo’s resignation due to a
barrage of sexual harassment
allegations.
“I want people to believe in
their government again. It’s
important to me that people
have faith,” said Hochul during
her first press conference
as governor at the State
Capitol in Albany on Tuesday
morning, Aug. 24.
Hochul officially became
New York’s 57th governor and
was sworn into office after Cuomo
handed in his letter of resignation,
and the freshly minted
leader said she’s prepared for
the many challenges of bringing
the Empire State back from
the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is an emotional moment
for me, but it’s one that
I’m prepared for,” Hochul said.
After a symbolic swearingin
ceremony on Aug. 24, she
vowed to tackle the state’s
many challenges, including
getting the state’s stalled allocation
of federal rent relief
dollars to struggling tenants,
saying she will “wait not one
second longer in terms of how
we get this relief to people.”
She added that she will get
money for workers who lost
money during the pandemic
known under the Excluded
Workers Fund program with
the same urgency.
When asked about holding
Cuomo accountable for the
sexual misconduct allegations
by 11 women, revealed byState
Attorney General Letitia
James’s bombshell report,
along with ethics investigations
into his $5 million COVID
book deal and miscounting
the death toll in nursing
homes, Hochul said she will
leave that up to the state Assembly,
in order to maintain
the separation of powers.
The Buffalo native said
she will work better with New
York City Mayor Bill de Blasio
than her predecessor, who frequently
sparred with de Blasio
and undercut efforts to shut
down the city early on in the
COVID-19 pandemic in spring
of 2020.
“There will be no blindsiding.
There’ll be just full cooperation,
because I need his
best and brightest integrated
with my best and brightest,
and that’s how we’ll get
through this,” said Hochul.
She noted that Mayor Bill
de Blasio had alerted her
prior to his announcement
about mandating vaccines
for Department of Education
employees, which she
said showed a new “era of
cooperation.”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul reacts as she speaks to the
media after taking part in a swearing-in ceremony to become New
York state’s 57th and first woman governor in the Red Room at the
New York State Capitol, in Albany, on Aug. 24, 2021.
Photo by Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
State Senator James Sanders outlines the details of his Breaking
Ground cannabis workforce training initiative.
Photo courtesy of Sanders’ offi ce
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