Grace Brown

Cooperatives for the Many

On Friday 5th April, CLES Researcher Grace Brown took part in a workshop session on New Municipalism and Cooperative Development at this year’s Ways Forward: Cooperatives for the Many Conference.

This conference was inspired by a variety of activities that have been attracting attention recently: the rise of ‘new municipalism’ epitomised by what’s happening in cities as diverse as Preston and Barcelona; grassroots activism centred around ideas of the solidarity economy and community wealth building; as well as the ongoing buzz around the potential of platform co-operatives.

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Are inclusive growth and economic justice the same thing?

CLES CEO, Neil McInroy, and Metro Dynamics Associate Director, Alex Gardiner, recently discussed the concept of inclusive growth for the Centre for Progressive Policy.

The Centre for Progressive Policy believes that a new, more inclusive approach to growth is needed, harnessing the best of central and local government to build on the assets and opportunities of place. The CPP define inclusive growth as moving away from the current approach of ‘grow now, redistribute later’, instead challenging us to see how we can structure the economy more fairly to make it work for all from the start.

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NHS as an Anchor: Expert Advisory Group Meeting

On Wednesday 20th March, CLES Chief Executive Neil McInroy and Associate Directors, Frances Jones and Tom Lloyd Goodwin, attended the Expert Advisory Group meeting for the NHS Anchor project.

As well as providing a summary of the research so far, there were also reflections on the findings and implications for the NHS. This included looking at how to take the work forward, identifying next steps and opportunities from the NHS Long Term Plan. 

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Birmingham Anchor Network Gets Underway

On Thursday 28th March, CLES will begin a series of sessions for procurement and employment professionals from six of Birmingham’s key Anchor Institutions.

Building on CLES’ previous Local Wealth Building work in Birmingham, funded by Barrow Cadbury in 2017, the Anchors have come together to develop their own Anchor Strategies but also to collaborate to combine their significant economic influence to shape a more equitable economy in the city.

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Realising the Potential of Universities as Anchor Institutions

On Thursday 21st March, CLES hosted a workshop session with universities and key organisations from the Higher Education sector to help shape a new programme of work.

As we launch our Local Wealth Building Centre for Excellence, we want to expand on the work of the of the past decade with individual universities in places such as Preston, Birmingham and Leeds, by working across the Higher Education sector to advance this agenda.

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Food Poverty Action Plan for Greater Manchester

Food Poverty is a significant challenge in Greater Manchester. Over 200,000 children experience poverty in Greater Manchester, and food bank use is higher than in other areas. Councils have had their budgets slashed, and the NHS is under severe pressure from food poverty related conditions, with poor diet contributing to diabetes, cancer, cardio vascular disease, and obesity as well as malnutrition.

On Monday 4th March, CLES Senior Researcher Matthew Todd attended the launch of the Food Poverty Action Plan for Greater Manchester at Methodist Central Hall in Manchester. The Action Plan has been co-produced with input from over 100 individuals and organisations (a selection of whom are shown on the graphic) and was coordinated by GM Poverty action.

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World Health Organisation Expert Report on Advancing Health Equity and Well-being

In November 2018, CLES Associate Director Tom Lloyd Goodwin attended the Expert Meeting on Protecting Investments in Health and Maximizing New Opportunities to Advance Health Equity and Well-being in Venice, Italy. The report from this meeting has now been published.

Tom shared CLES’ experience in working with local communities in England to change their procurement processes. He shared expertise from CLES’ work with Manchester from 2007 and in Preston from 2012, and described the challenges facing authorities to juggle cost and efficiency pressures in procurement.

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EvoNorth Conference

CLES Chief Executive Neil McInroy will be speaking on the People’s Powerhouse Panel at the EvoNorth Conference, taking place on 27th and 28th February.

Organised by the Northern Powerhouse Partner Cognitive Publishing, EvoNorth is an immersive series of lively and engaging Q&As, roundtable discussions, workshops and exhibitions, with plenty of calls to action.

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Local Wealth Building in the North East

This month CLES has started three separate programmes of work in Sunderland, Darlington and Gateshead, to bring Local Wealth Building to the North East of England.

In Gateshead and Sunderland, CLES is now undertaking scope research and initial interviews to explore the potential for Local Wealth Building, with a specific focus on key strategic priorities of reducing low pay and developing the SME sector.

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iNetwork Winter Conference

CLES Associate Director Tom Lloyd-Goodwin delivered a session on “Building an Inclusive Economy” at the 14th Annual iNetwork Winter Conference.

This year’s conference theme was Connecting People and Place, focused on supporting a new vision to build vibrant and sustainable local communities, connecting people to place and sharing innovative thinking from all levels, including community leaders, practitioners and local enterprises.

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Manchester City Council spend is building local wealth

CLES has today published the latest findings of its Manchester City Council spend analysis.

CLES has been working with Manchester City Council since 2008 to analyse its annual procurement spend and to improve its procurement process so that it addresses local need and brings greater benefits to Manchester’s residents and businesses. CLES has analysed this procurement spend to establish where this money has gone and to understand its impact on the Manchester economy and residents.

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