Oh 2020... what a way to kick off the new decade. As we come to the close of this epic year, we look back and reflect on some our major accomplishments to end the year on a high note!
1) COVID-19 Hand Sanitizer Production & PPE Donations
With Covid-19 being the greatest ongoing challenge, we're thankful first and foremost to our staff and patients who adapted quickly to a slew of new safety precautions put in place. Stepping up to lend a helping hand, Sira produced dozens of gallons of hand sanitizer for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) utilizing the medical grade ethanol used in our various full-spectrum extractions. The MEMA team collected and distributed our hand sanitizer to medical workers on the front lines across the state.
In addition to producing Hand Sanitizer, the Sira Team collectively donated hundreds of packs of PPE (gloves & face masks) to a variety of local groups and communities, including the Boston Police Department, the City of Brockton, and the Somerville Human Health Services Office, among others.
2) Sira Naturals Launches Sira.Community Initiative Program
In July of this year, our Sira.Community Team launched a new website! The Sira.Community website documents our radical rethinking of community engagement by contributing to the efforts of redressing the negative impacts of the War on Drugs.
The three pillars of Sira.Community are:
• community engagement
• workforce development
• mentoring entrepreneurs
Our community engagement focuses on providing useful resources for employment and entrepreneurship in communities that have been disproportionately impacted by the War on Drugs. Our workforce development focuses on providing information about job opportunities to people from disproportionately impacted communities. Our mentoring of entrepreneurs occurs through our Accelerator 2.0 program that works with entrepreneurs to demystify and simplify the knotty regulatory tangle that characterizes the Massachusetts cannabis industry.
3) Sira Becomes Founding Member of Mass Cultivated Program
Mass CultivatED is the nation’s first jail-to-job cannabis program. It provides fellows with a robust co-op education program, legal services, workforce preparedness training, and cannabis fellowships. Sira Naturals has fully committed to CultivatED as a member of its founding board and corporate partner for fellow internships. In December, Chaton Green graduated from CultivatED and officially joined the Sira family! Welcome Chaton :) We are excited to continue growing with Mass CultivatED in innovating and advancing cannabis equity.
