In April of 2019, the Illinois General Assembly passed and Governor J.B Pritzker signed into law legislation that legalized the purchase and use cannabis for adults 21 and older. Built into cannabis legalization was a program called the Restore, Reinvest and Renew Program, or R3 (previously called Restoring Our Communities (ROC)).
The R3 Program drives 25% of cannabis tax revenue to fund grants for violence prevention, reentry, youth development, economic development and civil legal aid services in areas of the state that our objectively found to be acutely suffering from the horrors of violence, bolstered by concentrated disinvestment, identified by their rates of gun injuries, child poverty, unemployment, and incarceration rates.
The Illinois Justice Project was an early supporter of the R3 Program, as it is a prime example of using government resources to improve public safety outcomes without relying on the traditional justice system, which can produce significant harm in communities through inappropriate incarceration and broad overuse of criminal records.
For more information on the Restore, Reinvest and Renew (R3) program, please visit r3.illinois.gov.
View this map to see if organizations in your community are eligible for an R3 grant.
Nonprofit organizations, local governments, faith-based organizations, businesses, and other community or neighborhood associations may apply for grants individually or in collaboration with other groups. Find out more about collaboratives here.
Check out frequently asked questions about the R3 Program here.