PVDFlowers Cooperative Launch Fundraiser

PVD Flowers will be the FIRST cannabis dispensary in the country to be unionized, owned, and governed by its own workers. 

Highlights

• Six of 24 new adult-use cannabis retail licenses in Rhode Island are reserved for worker-owned cooperatives.

• PVD Flowers is incubating in partnership with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union and other local cannabis justice-oriented community organizations.

• The Cooperative will offer a community-based and equity-branded option for socially-conscious cannabis consumers, which does not currently exist in Rhode Island.

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PVD Flowers Cooperative is a BIPOC worker-owned cannabis dispensary preparing to apply for a retail cannabis license in Providence, Rhode Island. As a worker-owned, union-incubated, and state-protected cannabis business, we’re building an unprecedented business model in the cannabis industry. 

Our mission is to deliver high-quality recreational cannabis products to the Providence community, while promoting social and racial equity in Rhode Island’s cannabis market. We will: 

• Democratically govern ourselves.
• Prioritize wealth-building for communities directly impacted by the War on Drugs via profit-sharing and union membership.
• Cultivate an authentic community space where community members can gather and connect.

We’re organizing with the support of the Rhode Island Cannabis Justice Coalition, a group of community and labor organizations that includes ReclaimRI and the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 328. 

Our coalition knows that, after decades of the racist War on Drugs, high barriers to entry in the cannabis industry have resulted in an industry that continues to exclude and exploit poor communities of color.  The union co-op business model reverses the power dynamic, giving workers the opportunity to build wealth and decide for themselves how their businesses are run, all with the protections and benefits of union membership. 

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But raising the capital we need to get off the ground isn’t easy. Cannabis businesses like PVD Flowers don’t have access to traditional start-up loans from banks and the government, and it’s more difficult to find investors when the business aims to pay surplus profits to workers. 

That’s where you come in! 

Help us create NEW kind of business in the cannabis industry: a dispensary BY, FOR, and LITERALLY OWNED BY THE PEOPLE. 

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Financial needs:

We’re raising $200,000 for the fees and costs we’ll have to pay to apply for a license. Our goal for this crowdfunding campaign is $50,000.