A trade association is a voluntary association of businesses organized on a geographic or industrial basis to promote and develop commercial and industrial opportunities within its sphere of operation; to voice publicly the views of members on matters of common interest.
Compare it with a grassroots advocacy organization. Grassroots advocacy groups are entirely run by volunteer members. A trade association is a professional organization that effectively executes its mission and reaches its goals by engaging trained professionals in its work. – professionalism is how we build a strong and thriving industry!
How Does MCA as a Trade Association Support Our Community?
- Rapid growth in today’s competitive cannabis market favors practices that directly threaten our high-quality processes and products. By advocating for new regulations and supports like meaningful appellations, sustainable expansion and equity grants for small operators, we lessen this threat.
- MCA supports our legacy community in its effort to survive and thrive in this new marketplace. MCA helped secure an equity grant for the County to administer to those negatively impacted by Prohibition and the War on Drugs.
- Locally-based cultivators, processors, distributors and retailers must work together to advocate for our values and culture that make our region unique. Our strength lies in our unity.
- Medium-sized businesses in our region have managed to scale up to compete statewide. Their success is laudable and MCA supports their efforts to compete statewide while supporting the survival of our producer region.
