Food poverty and lack of access to after-school enrichment activities contribute to attainment gaps and negatively impact educational outcomes. Existing solutions focus on free school meals and lobbying the government for change, but there is a need for long-term sustainable solutions which are embedded in communities.

Jonathan Harper is a father and first-hand witness to the challenges parents and carers can face in feeding their children. He conceptualised CanTeam to equip schools with a sustainable model to offer healthy and cost-effective meals to young people, their families, and the local community, coupled with promoting enrichment opportunities and supporting thriving communities.

CanTeam aims to address food poverty while transforming the role of schools in the community.

CanTeam will provide opportunities for young people to prepare meals and learn vital skills while creating a sense of community and social cohesion. Schools will have a comprehensive managed service to address the problem of food poverty and transform the role of schools in the community by providing access to healthy and cost-effective meals, and creating a sense of belonging and social cohesion. Food will be offered alongside enrichment activities such as sports and arts.

The initiative has successfully piloted events at Sunnyhill Primary School and Townley Grammar School and gained enthusiastic support from a diverse coalition of cross-sector organisations who recognise the transformative potential of CanTeam.

During 2023, Jonathan received expert support and funding from Big Change to help develop and test CanTeam. A survey of 1,322 young people, parents, carers, and educators from across the country found that:

Jonathan is CEO of Future Foundations, Founder of CanTeam, Co-founder of Global Social Leaders, Future Solutions Online and Our Future Group.

He is an award-winning social entrepreneur, who has partnered with Vodafone, McKinsey, and Amazon Web Services to develop transformational employee development programmes supporting young people’s life-skills and wellbeing.

He has created youth leadership programmes for the British government, partnered with the LEGO Foundation to develop a programme to foster playful learning and advocacy among young people and worked with Global Action Plan and Persil to pilot and scale a UK schools programme focused on developing compassionate values.

In 2013, Jonathan co-founded Global Social Leaders, which has equipped over 10,000 young people to deliver 3,500 social action projects in 100 countries responding to the Global Goals.

He is passionate about fostering a community of schools and cross-sector partners, committed to building a global movement of socially conscious young people who are equipped to be leaders in their lives and society.

In 2023, Jonathan launched CanTeam, a new initiative designed to transform schools into community hubs by opening up their canteens to serve food after-school to young people, families and local communities.