Community Reinvestment and Repair Fund
What is the Community Reinvestment and Repair Fund?
In 2023, the Maryland General Assembly approved the Cannabis Reform Act, which created an additional stream of funding for all counties in Maryland, including Charles County. This new funding is called the Community Reinvestment and Repair Fund (CRRF).
How is the CRRF funded?
CRRF is funded with money from taxes on adult-use cannabis. Maryland now imposes a 9 percent sales tax on legal adult-use of cannabis and a portion of these revenues are provided to the counties for them to manage a CRRF. This money is given to local areas to support programs that help low-income communities and those most affected by past cannabis laws.
What does this mean for Charles County?
This means that Charles County now has access to additional funding from the state of Maryland, and we can decide how to best use this money for community projects in certain areas.
Potential uses of this funding include allocation to mental health and substance abuse programs, education, youth and family services, public health, community organizations, and housing and homelessness preventions services. This funding MUST be used in the following identified “impacted areas” the 20601, 20602, 20603 zip codes. This funding can NOT be used for law enforcement or to supplement funding that already exists in Charles County's budget.
How were the impacted areas identified?
To identify the geographic areas, the State of Maryland’s Office of Social Equity (“OSE”) received state cannabis charge and residential address data from the Maryland Judiciary between 2013-2022 which represents the most recent available data. This dataset was analyzed and calculated to create the mean. As defined in the Cannabis Reform Act, OSE identified the geographic areas that had charge counts greater than or equal to 150% of the mean number of cannabis charges.
Further analysis included a clean-up of the data where out-of-state addresses, addresses identified as correctional facilities, persons listed as unhoused, and missing zip codes were removed. The remaining addresses were verified through the United States Postal System Application Programming Interface (API) in RStudio. Invalid addresses were corrected using the validated code or removed if too little detail was available to validate. Geographic areas were defined as zip codes for ease of interpretation.
How is the CRRF managed in Charles County?
The Office of Equity and Access will manage Charles County Government’s CRRF plan and process. The Office of Equity and Access works to ensure fair treatment, opportunity, and inclusion for all Charles County community members. Equity staff leads efforts to identify and remove barriers, promote diversity, and create an environment where everyone can thrive.
How can I get involved?
Charles County Government is looking for community involvement and input to help decide how to best utilize dollars from CRRF. We encourage residents to share their thoughts by participating in the survey below.
A CRRF Workgroup has been created to assist the Office of Equity and Access with engaging the community, assessing community needs and making funding recommendations.
CRRF Community Engagement Meetings:
- Thursday, January 8, 2026, 6:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m., - Waldorf Senior & Recreation Center 90 Post Office Road, Waldorf, MD 20602
- Thursday, July 9, 2026, 6:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m., - Elite Gymnastics & Recreation Center 2745 Old Washington Road, Waldorf, MD 20601
Dinner will be provided and a fun activity for children 3 and up will be available during the meeting time.
To learn more about CRRF, check out the resources below. If you are interested in learning more about all things related to Charles County Government's budget planning process, check out our "Let's Get Fiscal" podcast series.
Resources:
- Maryland Cannabis Administration website - Learn more about how cannabis is regulated in Maryland.
- Maryland Office of Social Equity Programs and Resources webpage - Find a brief description of CRRF and a report on which type of community-based services and organizations should be the primary beneficiaries of this fund.
- Let's Get Fiscal - Tune in to hear discussions on all things related to finances and budgeting in Charles County.
- More information about Charles County Community Reinvestment and Repair Fund Workgroup: The CRRF Workgroup influences the allocation of the funds by prioritizing community needs and identifying initiatives that benefit marginalized and low-income communities to elevate opportunities and bridge gaps. The CRRF workgroup is comprised of designated CCG staff and representatives from partner agencies who serve the unique needs of our community.
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