Unserved & Underserved Areas of New York State

Section 35 (9) of the Cannabis Law requires all registered organizations to demonstrate they are culturally, linguistically and medically competent to serve unserved and underserved areas of the state.  Additionally, the Cannabis Law requires registered organizations to locate their fifth and sixth medical dispensaries in unserved and underserved.  The Office has performed an analysis and identified the locations within New York State that are considered unserved and underserved for the purpose of assisting registered organizations and registered organization applicants with meeting these statutory requirements.     

The locations deemed to be unserved and underserved areas of the state were identified by calculating a health disadvantage score for each census tract within New York State.  The health disadvantage score considers metrics often used by state and federal agencies to assess medically vulnerable communities requiring additional resources.  The specific metrics used to perform this assessment include: 

1. population-provider ratio,  
2. population greater than or equal to 65 years of age,  
3. uninsured rate,  
4. low birth weight,  
5. premature deaths,  
6. household disability rate, and  
7. drivetime to health care.  

Census tracts with a high health disadvantage score were examined to identify key characteristics of those communities. Some characteristics that may be relevant to an applicant demonstrating their cultural, linguistic, and medical competence to serve unserved and underserved communities are included below.   

Census tracks with high health disparity were then examined for other key characteristics. The criteria for key characteristics followed four standards:  

• The data captured characteristics that were important for this exercise  
• The data was publicly available  
• The data was available on the census track level using the same census track designations  
• The data was available for the same year, specifically 2019  

Key metrics of these unserved and underserved areas of New York State include: