Community Wealth Building 2.0: Leading Resilience and Recovery in Preston

Highlights have included a new approach to procurement which has seen hundreds of millions of pounds added to the Preston and Lancashire economy by ensuring public sector opportunities can be secured by local businesses and organisations and delivered by their people for the benefit of all our communities.

There have also been increased training and employment opportunities, accreditation by the Real Living Wage Foundation and support for greater diversity in business ownership locally.

Now Preston City Council is ready to launch the next phase, Community Wealth Building 2.0: Leading Resilience and Recovery in Preston, and it wants to share that story with you.

Its headline statements include:

• Renewing its commitment to local procurement to benefit employment and training opportunities and community development.
• A more democratic economy through employee ownership, co-operative ventures, decent and fair employment, and developing local investment opportunities through regional co-operative banking.
• Working with others, public sector partners, to harness a ‘power of place’, in part through an increased use of the City’s assets for increased social and environmental benefit.

The threads running through all this is operating to the priorities which will help develop a more resilient Preston to aid a swifter recovery from the effects of Covid-19; and ensuring climate resilience.

The event will feature interviews and conversations with local, national and international figures.

Confirmed so far are:

• Prof Phillip Thompson, Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives, New York City. NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio says of Phillip: “He is one of the foremost experts on how to better serve and lift up low-income neighbourhoods, and has spent decades fighting in the trenches for progressive causes.”
• John McDonnell MP, former Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Rachel Shabi, contributing writer to The Guardian
• James Moore, Chairman, Community Savings Bank Association
• Neetal Parekh, teacher and community activist
• Neil McInroy, Chief Executive, Centre for Local Economic Strategies
• Cllr Matthew Brown, Leader of Preston City Council
• Cllr Freddie Bailey, Cabinet Member for Community Wealth Building at Preston City Council

This event will be chaired by Richard Slater, publisher of Lancashire Business View magazine.

Register for a ticket to attend the Zoom call, and be able to ask questions OR Watch via YouTube