In a bid to aid companies owned by people unduly harmed by past hyper-criminalization of marijuana use, Portland has awarded two grants to African American-owned cannabis businesses, the city announced Monday.

By doing so Portland becomes the first municipality to invest cannabis tax revenues into “communities disproportionately harmed by cannabis criminalization,” according to Prosper Portland, the city economic development agency.

The $30,000 grants will go to Green Box, a subscription-based marijuana delivery service, and Green Hop, a cannabis retailer with an apprenticeship program for young African Americans.

African American entrepreneurs have historically struggled to secure the capital needed to jumpstart their businesses. The grants intend to help bridge what the city called the “racially divided capital gap.”

“As a 100 percent bootstrapped company, limited funding has inhibited our growth,” said Adrian Wayman, the founder and chief executive of Green Box. The $30,000 grant will enable his company “to leap forward,” he said.

-- Gordon R. Friedman

GFriedman@Oregonian.com