Six years ago, Angela White received a call from Liz Jackson Simpson who was seeking to learn more about the equity industry to start a training program. For about six months, this informational courtship continued as Angela provided industry expertise to Success Centers on how a program such as this should work. Her knowledge and partnership were fundamental building blocks to begin the preliminary work on starting a cannabis training program.
Prior to lending her expertise, Angela gained experience managing a dispensary during the Prop 215 era. Then, on a Wednesday, the call came in, offering Angela the role of a lifetime. She resigned with 2 days’ notice and on Monday, started working as the Job Developer and later became the Program Manager of the Equity for Industry Department.
Angela leveraged existing relationships with fellow cannabis organizations to create a comprehensive training curriculum for Success Centers DKI Equity Pathways Paid Cannabis Industry Training Program to prepare program graduates with the skills and qualifications to become ideal candidates for dispensary’s positions.
Angela spearheaded the outreach campaign to alert the community of this new training opportunity and secured industry experts to instruct students and provide guidance and support on how to manage in this ever-changing new frontier. Partnering with other subject matter experts, Angela learned what positions were vital in the industry and created flyers that advertise those opportunities. “I attended an event that boasted what’s San Francisco doing in the cannabis industry and saw my flyers being shown on the big screen and being shared (at a city event) by the then Director of the San Francisco Office of Cannabis. I yelled, hey those are my flyers!” Seeing the smile on the Director’s face let Angela know that she was doing something right.
Angela has worked to create technical assistance programs (TA) for professional development, thanks to the Office of Cannabis. These TA’s help secure knowledge for Verified Equity community members who want to start their own businesses. Participants have shared, “Ms. Ang, you put the dots on the map. Now we can draw the lines to connect the dots.” The Resume Clinic prepares job seekers to compete in this landscape and the Expungement Clinic (done by volunteers that Angela secured from Golden Gate University) help participants clean up their records / background so that they are no longer held back by their past. Participants call and say “Ms. Ang, I’m free.” These four words speak volumes and are a testament to the services provided, thanks to Angela.
