The Preston model: UK takes lessons in recovery from rust-belt Cleveland

As councils struggle with cuts, one Lancashire city adapted a pioneering grassroots approach from America to tackling inequality and keeping profits local

Ted Howard looks out on a group of people drinking tea from styrofoam cups at Preston town hall on a Monday afternoon in March. The social entrepreneur and author from Cleveland, Ohio, is the special guest at the city's monthly social forum. "What's happening in this community is historic - it blows my mind," he tells the city councillors and local business owners. "We're working out how to build an inclusive economy."

Howard's infectious enthusiasm has made him the de facto spokesperson for "community wealth building", a way of tackling inequality by ensuring the economic development of a place is shared more equally among its residents.

[Preston is] creating an ecosystem of change that will be the engine for a new, fairer economy

The inclusive economy's time has come

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