Building an Inclusive and Sustainable Cannabis Industry in New York State

Building an Inclusive and Sustainable Cannabis Industry in New York State: Equitable Employment, Education, and Public Health

October 27, 2022
5:00 - 7:00 pm ET
via Zoom
REGISTER NOW

NYU Silver is partnering with our student group NYU CannaHealth, NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business (CSB), and NYU Wagner’s student group NYU CannaPolicy to present a three-part series of conversations with the overarching theme “Building an Inclusive and Sustainable Cannabis Industry in New York State.” 

The New York State Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, enacted in March 2021, legalizes the production, sale, and use of marijuana in New York State. Importantly, the law requires that 50% of all licenses be provided to “social equity applicants.” But this commitment to benefit communities most damaged by former marijuana laws is incomplete without also providing access to capital, technological expertise, and business support for licensees, and training and pathways to employment within the industry for justice impacted populations.

On October 6, 2022 CSB kicked off this series with a conversation across the private and public sectors about the enormous business opportunities with legalized recreational cannabis in New York State and the barriers to inclusive participation and sustainable production. On Tuesday, Nov. 1 at 5:30 p.m. EST. NYU CannaPolicy will host part three of this series: Challenges & Opportunities for Financing Social Equity in the Cannabis Industry.

On October 27, 2022 from 5:00-7:00pm ET, NYU Silver is holding the second event in the series, a conversation about equitable employment, education, and public health.

NYU Silver alum and Adjunct Lecturer Terrance Coffie, Founder and Executive Director of the Social Justice Network, is facilitating this virtual event in collaboration with Silver’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

The event will consist of three panels:

1.     Ensuring Employment Opportunities in the Cannabis Industry for Those Ensnared in Cannabis Criminalization

Moderator: Terrence Coffie

Panelists: Sean Farrow, Dr. Kirk ‘Jae’ James, Danielle Schumacher

2.     Ensuring Workforce Development in the Cannabis Industry for Justice Impacted Populations

Moderator: Hassan Austin

Panelists: Nikki Kateman, Jamil Myrie, David Serrano

3.     Protecting the Public Health in a Capitalist Cannabis Industry

Moderator: Dr. Jan Roberts

Panelists: Paloma Ledfelt, Adriana Myles, Keisha Sutton-James

This virtual event is free and open to the public, however, registration is required.

Terrence Coffie, MSW

Terrence Coffie is a 2017 graduate of NYU Silver School of Social Work, where he earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in the field of social-work, with a focus in criminal justice reform. As an advocate, activist and educator, Terrence has committed himself to creating social and political change within the criminal justice system. Terrence is employed as an Adjunct Professor at New York University’s Silver School of Social Work, where he teaches courses in Forensic Justice in Problem Solving Courts and Diversity, Race, Oppression and Privilege. Terrence is also a faculty member with NYU’s Prison Education Program. He is the Founder and CEO of the Social Justice Network  a grassroots organization that raises awareness surrounding criminal and juvenile justice reform. He hosts his weekly talk show It’s Coffee Time on Spotify. During his tenure at NYU, Mr. Coffie interned at the prestigious McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research. He was named the 2017 NASW-NYC Alex Rosen Student of The Year, the 2017 NYU Silver Excellence in Leadership Award recipient, and the 2016 NYU President’s Service Award recipient for his development of the College Pathways Program, which assists young men of color in obtaining educational opportunities. In 2017 he made his debut as a contributing author in Race, Education and Reintegrating the Formerly Incarcerated Citizen (Lexington Books). Terrence has been published in USA Today and Forbes Magazine regarding reform on behalf of the justice impacted. Terrence has gained national recognition for his commitment to criminal justice reform. Terrence brings a very insightful, distinctive and unique perspective surrounding these issues,  specifically in the area of reentry. Terrence believes that “those who are closer to the problem, are also those who are closest to the solution” in creating a more fair and equitable system of justice.

List in formation

Hasaan T. Austin

Hasaan T. Austin, Managing Partner of MTN Biz Development, is a business development & private equity specialist with (25+) years’ experience with business planning and development with start-ups, growth stage, and mature companies. He is currently co-founder and curator of the “Moving The Needle” brand properties. This includes MTN Biz Development (MTNBD). MTNBD is a Business Development Agency that works with entrepreneurs, investors, & stakeholders to achieve business goals in the cannabis marketplace. Mr. Austin is a Business Development Consultant for people and organizations in the cannabis sector in NJ & NY providing Social Equity Business Solutions for the market. MTN Media Productions (MTNMP) writes & produces business development media content. He works with film & TV studios, record labels, NBA, NFL, & MLB players, entertainers, entrepreneurs & influencers, and more to provide business development content. Mr. Austin interfaces with various press and media outlets to curate business content for media and press outlets.

He is co-founder of the Balance Sheet Enhancement Platform (BSEP+TM), a methodology to mitigate capital risk with principal protection for funds, family offices, and HNWIs. He has established 100s of business systems, operations, and capitalization equal to ($67M+) for organizations. He’s written 700+ business plans and investor decks. Mr. Austin combines his business operational  experience with his principles for productivity and cost efficiency and their  connectivity to quality of life to inspire better business bottom line results.

Sean Farrow

Sean Farrow is an associate attorney with the premier law firm, Hamilton Clarke.  Sean's practice areas focus primarily on litigation, where he represents clients and businesses in criminal and civil matters as well as resolving disputes as an administrative officer in arbitration hearings.

Prior to joining Hamilton Clarke, LLP, Sean served as a public defender with The Legal Aid Society of New York City (LAS), the largest public-interest law firm in the United States, where, since 2016, he represented thousands of indigent clients charged with serious felonies and misdemeanor matters. During his tenure, Sean litigated several suppression hearings and tried dozens of bench and jury trials to verdict. In his most recent trial, Sean secured the full acquittal of a client charged with attempted murder and weapons possession.

Sean is also a certified arbitrator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the largest securities dispute resolution forum in the United States. In this role, Sean is tasked with applying relevant laws, regulations and financial standards to resolving complex financial disputes, as well as facilitating negotiations and dialogue between disputing parties. He has also provided legal counsel to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s hurricane disaster relief loan program.

In addition to his broad legal practice, Sean is a member of New York City’s Community Board 9. 

Also, he is a volunteer tutor of reading, writing, English and ESOL with South Bronx United, a nonprofit organization that offers educational, sports coaching and immigration support services to at-risk middle and high school students. 

Kirk “Jae” James, DSW, MSW, BA, AA

Kirk “Jae” James is a Clinical Assistant Professor at NYU Silver. Jae was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica, during a period of political and social unrest. He would ultimately migrate to the United States at ten years old with his mother in search of a better life. Yet the “American Dream,” like it is to many immigrants of color, would be more mirage than reality — the nightmare that awaited Jae — that 1 in 3 black men between 16 and 24 would be victims of what many scholars (decades later) would rather euphemistically title: “Mass Incarceration.”

As a college student with no prior criminal record, Jae would be arrested on April 13, 1994, and charged under a myriad of conspiracy counts related to the Rockefeller Drug Laws. He would be denied bail, trapped on Rikers Island for six months, and ultimately sentenced to life in prison at 19 years old. Jae would spend nine years in prison fighting an Order of Deportation, raising a daughter that was born two months after his incarceration, and getting a college degree before his eventual release in 2003. Since his release, Jae has been a champion of immigrant rights, mass incarceration, and raising awareness of the trauma instigated by various systems of oppression.

Read Dr. Kirk “Jae” James’s Full Bio

Nikki Kateman

Nikki Kateman is the Political and Communications Director for Local 338 RWDSU/UFCW, a labor union that represents approximately 13,000 men and women working in a variety of industries throughout New York State and Northern New Jersey, where she began her career as an intern in 2007. In this role she handles legislative advocacy and government relations in support of the work of the union and issues that directly impact Local 338 members and their families, and she was part of the coalition that helped pass the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, speaking from the perspective of ensuring equity for the new industry’s  workforce.

Nikki acts as representative for the union on political, community advocacy, and labors campaigns across the region. She is responsible for overseeing all of Local 338’s internal and external communications, as well as implementing the union’s core events, fundraising, and projects, including the Local 338 Scholarship Program.

Nikki is a member of the Executive Board of the Women’s Network, a member constituency group within the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) focused on addressing issues specific to working women and their families. She serves as the Secretary and Board Member of the Local 338 Charities, Inc., a 501-(c)3 organization that supports working families in need. She is a Union Delegate for the Long Island Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO and the New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO. She is a member of the Board of Directors for two worker centric non-profit organizations - Workforce Development Institute and Long Island Jobs with Justice. Nikki was also recently appointed to serve on the New York State Cannabis Advisory Board.

Nikki graduated summa cum laude from Adelphi University with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Gender Studies. She holds a Certificate in Advanced Labor Union Leadership from The New York State AFL-CIO/Cornell University Union Leadership Institute. In 2019, she was named an “Albany Rising Star” in City & State’s 40 Under 40.

Paloma Lehfeldt, MD, MA

Dr. Paloma Lehfeldt, MD, MA, is a lifelong cannabis student, advocate, and researcher who serves as the Senior Director of Clinical Science and Partnerships for Goodness Growth Holdings. Dr. Lehfeldt brings to Goodness Growth more than fifteen years of experience in psychiatric research, community outreach, and teaching. She has expertise in neuroscience with a keen interest in mental health and the endocannabinoid system.

At Goodness Growth, Dr. Lehfeldt is the direct line of communication with providers and organizes outreach events, conferences, continuing education, and lectures.  Dr. Lehfeldt also contributes to the company’s clinical research portfolio with a focus on chronic pain and mental health in cannabis consumers.   Additionally, Paloma is the Chair of the company’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council where she leads the company's expungement efforts across the country and the Vice-Chair of The National Cannabis Industry Association’s Scientific Advisory Committee. She is passionate about the use of cannabis as medicine and cannabis health equity and looks forward to advocating its healing properties throughout her career.

Adriana Myles

Adriana Myles is a cannabis professional who started her career as a budtender in Las Vegas in 2015. She graduated with MA in Creative Arts Therapy from Hofstra University in 2014, and briefly worked in mental health and education before finding herself in the cannabis industry. During her seven years in the cannabis industry, she worked her way up from budtender to General Manager. She has also won several awards such as medicine woman of the year for the 2016 Open Vape cannabis industry awards, and budtender of the month in 2020 for Northeast Leaf magazine.  Adriana has had the privilege of working in both medical and recreational markets, was a part of the opening crew for two different dispensaries and helped to create medical standard operating procedures that focused on patient care and education. Through her experience in two different markets, she has firsthand knowledge of how policy directly impacts the experience of medical cannabis patients.  She has dedicated herself to helping change the negative stigmas around cannabis use through education, product knowledge and representation.  Adriana believes strongly that by continuing to educate public officials on real life cannabis experiences, we can help shape policy to create an equitable and sustainable industry. 

Jamil Myrie

A native son of New York City, Jamil is a seasoned senior executive, founder, investor, advisor, and entrepreneur with success across cannabis, healthcare, retail, manufacturing, and real estate industries. A Harvard graduate, Jamil has over 25 years of extensive b2b b2c operational leadership experience in expansion and efficiency, and strategic partnership development for multi-billion dollar national and international corporations. 

With over 5 years in the legal cannabis industry, Mr. Myrie serves as the Founder & President of the Black Cannabis Business Alliance (BCBA), a non-profit trade organization striving to manifest restorative economic justice for the African-Diaspora community by providing financial, educational, and technical support to aspiring social equity cannabis entrepreneurs seeking licensure; and workforce development programs to create a pipeline to cannabis industry employment. He also serves as Founder of a licensed operator in medical and adult-use states including Massachusetts, Maine, West Virginia, and New Mexico, with pending license approvals in New Jersey and Connecticut. Mr. Myrie got his start in the cannabis industry serving as Chief Retail Operations Officer for one of the largest multi-state cannabis operators, operating in over 15 states. Jamil has been twice selected as one of Benzinga’s 2019 and 2021's Top Most Outstanding Black and Hispanic Men Leading in Cannabis.

Prior to entering the US cannabis industry, Mr. Myrie served as the North America Director of Real Estate, Development and Asset Management for an international optical retail conglomerate, leading a 1,000-store national expansion strategy, including a re-branding strategy and post-acquisition integration. During his 20-year tenure, Mr. Myrie has also led Strategic Planning, Real Estate and Operations, as Senior Executive Vice President directing business intelligence, real estate and construction, safety and compliance, and a cross-functional leadership team to enhance the customer experience, create new revenue channels, and drive bottom-line growth.

Mr. Myrie holds an A.B in Economics from Harvard University and proudly serves as an Advisor and Board Member to several educational and privately held institutions. 

Jan Roberts, DSW, LCSW

Jan Roberts, DWS, LCSW, is a licensed clinical social worker and entrepreneur based in New York City. Dr. Roberts is the founder of The Cannabinoid Institute (TCI) and teaches at NYU Silver School of Social Work where she also serves as the Faculty Advisor for NYU's CannaHealth Student Group. Additionally, Dr. Roberts is the founder of the Center for Integrative Mental Health, an integrated clinical practice in NYC dedicated to helping clients improve their health and wellbeing through multi-pronged science-based approaches, including psychotherapy, nutrition, embodiment practices, central nervous system regulation, and coaching. On top of her clinical work, Dr. Roberts teaches physicians all over the globe about cannabis, the endocannabinoid system, and how to incorporate holistic models of healing into patient treatment plans. Her research on clinician knowledge and attitudes on cannabis is seminal for social work practice and guides her approach.

Danielle Schumacher

Danielle Schumacher is an award-winning cannabis industry activist and entrepreneur. She co-founded THC Staffing Group with Shaleen Title in 2014 after years of actively campaigning for sensible drug legalization, which included co-founding a chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy and serving as Executive Director of Illinois NORML. She was the first Chancellor of Oaksterdam University in 2007 and Practice Manager for Frank Lucido MD and Maria Mangini FNP for over 10 years. She currently runs a national mentoring program and is on the Advisory Board of Parabola Center for Law & Policy. As CEO, Danielle guides THC Staffing’s ongoing efforts toward helping to create a fair and equitable cannabis industry. 

David Serrano

David Serrano, a U.S. Navy veteran, joined WDI in 2022 as the Cannabis Workforce Initiative (CWI) Project Manager. He brings over a decade’s worth of knowledge of the cannabis industry including research, a network, and a range of engagements. David has worked as a cannabis industry consultant as a co-founder of Harvest 360, whose work focuses closely on the development of the cannabis industry. Recently, David created an approved cannabis industry curriculum for an Associate’s degree as well as for two accredited industry certificates for a New Jersey community college. He has provided compliance and business support to hundreds of start-up operators across the cannabis supply chain, and across multiple states from coast to coast. In addition, he has experience advising members of government and nonprofits with strategies that focus on social equity at every level of the industry.

As WDI’s CWI Project Manager, David provides decisive leadership and impactful strategies to help communities most impacted by the prohibition of cannabis. He provides support to the development of New York State's workforce by facilitating, convening, and connecting industry to social equity workforce pipelines, training and education, and community partners. This support and development ultimately bolster New York's workforce and cannabis industry into a globally competitive and emergent market.

Keisha Sutton-James

Keisha Sutton-James is Deputy Borough President under Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, where she is focusing on community affairs, constituent services, appointments, and a number of policy areas.  Prior to serving in the Levine administration, Keisha served as campaign manager for Alvin Bragg for Manhattan District Attorney.  In his successful and historic run, Bragg became the first Black District Attorney for New York County in 2022.  The founder of Sutton Button Productions, Keisha served a consultant who works with clients in the political, media, activist, and corporate diversity spaces, in senior management at Inner City Broadcasting Corporation, owner of WBLS-FM and 16 other radio stations around the country, and as a banker at the J.P. Morgan Private Bank.  She has served on several nonprofit boards, including as chair of the Alliance for Women in Media and a member of the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce and the Harlem Community Development Corp.  Keisha resides in her hometown of Harlem with her husband, Michael, and daughters, Nola and Shelby. 

Black Cannabis Business Alliance

Cannabis Workforce Initiative

CJEI

Harlem Business Alliance

H.O.L.L.A.

Incarcerated Nation

Law Office of Jeffrey Hoffman  

Law Office of Hamilton Clarke LLP

Local 338

Londel’s Supper Club 

MTN Biz Development 

National Action Network

New York Public Library

NY Small Farma

THC Staffing

The Social Justice Network

NYSED and ASWB/ACE approved for 2 Continuing Education Contact Hours.

55 jurisdictions accept ACE-approved provider CE contact hours. ACE is not an approved Continuing Education provider in the states of New York (though NYU Silver is NYSED CE approved in NYS) and West Virginia, unless the event is outside of West VA. ACE only approves individual courses in New Jersey, though NYU Silver is CSWE-accredited and therefore accepted for licensed NJ professionals. Here is a full list of statutes related to social work CE.

NYU Silver School of Social Work
Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
1 Washington Square North
New York, NY 10003

Email: silver.dei@nyu.edu
Phone: 212.992.9217