New Equity-Owned Store Opens in SoMa, Portion of Proceeds Towards Violence Prevention
Rudy Corpuz Jr. Opens New STIIIZY SOMA Store, Portion of Proceeds Will Go to Violence Prevention Organizations in San Francisco
SFEG founding member and lifelong SoMa resident Rudy Corpuz Jr. - or “Rudy!” to the thousands of people he’s helped - has been giving back to his community through his United Playaz (UP) organization for nearly 30 years. Today, a new chapter in his story has arrived with the opening of his STIIIZY SoMa dispensary.
Licensed through SF’s Cannabis Social Equity program, and made possible with the support of the CA Office of Cannabis and SFEG, the store now stands as proof that while the journey may be trying at times, Equity has the potential to offer a real path towards ownership and community impact.
“In the hood, don't nobody want to stand on a corner, but if you see the cats on the corners making money, that’s what you’ll do,” said Rudy. “Then again, if you see someone who came from where you came from, having a legitimate business, it changes the game. It makes them proud, confident in who they are, and believe in their future.”
True to both SFEG’s mission of economically empowering our communities through cannabis and United Playaz’ belief that it “takes the hood to save the hood”, a portion of the store's proceeds will go towards supporting San Francisco community based organizations, with a focus on youth violence prevention, restorative justice, and reducing gun violence. UP alone has already helped hundreds of people re-enter civilian life after serving lengthy prison sentences and removed nearly 4,500 guns from the streets through their annual Gun Buy-Back program. The opening of the dispensary is a chance for those programs to be even further amplified while extending support to like-minded organizations throughout the city.
“Other community-based organizations might have deemed weed as being something taboo, but I see it really healing the community,” Rudy continued. “The gun buy-back is just one example. It’s already helped people bury family members when they couldn't afford to. We’ve helped send kids to college with the money. There are so many different ways cannabis has helped out folks that most don't know because I never announce it publicly. I just do it.”
The store is also a beacon for San Francisco’s Filipino community. Rudy has spent his entire life in the same SoMa neighborhood that’s been deemed San Francisco’s Filipino Cultural Heritage District and now houses both the United Playaz headquarters and STIIIZY SoMa. Rudy’s role as a community leader and business owner - in fact the first Filipino cannabis store owner as part of the SF Equity Program - is a sign that the historically displaced and disenfranchised Filipino community is moving towards becoming stakeholders in their own neighborhood.
Today is undeniably a victory for UP and the people of SoMa, but we all share in the celebration. SFEG has supported other Equity applicants and owners like Rudy so that the positive impact of each new Equity business has the potential to radiate out to multiple San Francisco communities in need, and we hope that others across the world see this and commit to building Equity programs in their own cities.
Rudy’s store, STIIIZY SoMa, is now open daily and is located at 518 Brannan St. in San Francisco. We hope to see you there and that you’ll shop knowing that buying from an Equity store has the potential to help impact our communities in a positive way.