Building Trusted Youth Support Together.
When a young person reaches out for help online, the right first connection can help shape what happens next. Founding partners help make trusted human support available at that moment, funding access, advancing research, and building the prevention infrastructure that makes early, human connection possible for more young people.
Partnership
Built together
Expanding access and prevention infrastructure.
A founding commitment helps shape what prevention can become.
The Chaperone Initiative is a prevention-focused, nonprofit youth-safety effort built on operational peer-support infrastructure from Chaperone Health, with research and evaluation in partnership with the University of Illinois Chicago. Founding partners help move this model from early implementation toward independently evaluated, scalable prevention.
Expand funded youth access
Partner support extends sponsored, funded access to defined youth populations (schools, healthcare pathways, communities, and implementation cohorts) so more young people can reach a trained Peer Chaperone at the moment human connection matters most.
Advance independent research
Founding support helps advance rigorous evaluation in partnership with the University of Illinois Chicago, building the evidence base for early, human-led prevention and supporting honest measurement and continuous improvement.
Build prevention infrastructure
Beyond any single program, partners help build durable infrastructure: training, safeguarding practices, technology that supports and never replaces Peer Chaperones, and the operational backbone that helps trusted human support reach youth reliably.
Demonstrate a scalable model
Early institutional partners help demonstrate how prevention through trusted human connection can be implemented, measured, and improved, creating a credible model for funders, health systems, and public partners to evaluate, adopt, and extend.
The Chaperone Initiative is not therapy, clinical treatment, diagnosis, crisis counseling, or emergency response. The model leads with trained Peer Chaperones and trusted human connection; technology supports and assists their work and never replaces Peer Chaperones, clinicians, therapists, or crisis services.
The academic and operational foundation behind the Initiative.
The Initiative brings together academic research and evaluation with operational peer-support delivery, pairing independent learning with the infrastructure to act.
University of Illinois Chicago (UIC)
Supports research and independent evaluation for the Initiative, helping ensure the prevention model is studied rigorously, measured transparently, and grounded in evidence as it grows.
Chaperone Health
Provides the operational peer-support infrastructure behind the Initiative: training, safeguarding practices, supervision workflows, and human-led delivery that connect vulnerable youth with trained Peer Chaperones.
The need is urgent, and the foundation to act is already here.
Founding partners are supporting a model built on real infrastructure, not starting from a blank page. They are joining an effort that pairs a clear reading of the moment with academic evaluation and operational capacity already in place.
Why now
A generation is growing up online, and the first time a young person reaches out can influence what happens next. Much of today’s support arrives only after a situation has escalated. Prevention through early, trusted human connection is the gap, and the window to build that infrastructure thoughtfully is open now.
Why this team
The Initiative pairs research and evaluation in partnership with the University of Illinois Chicago with human-led peer-support delivery from Chaperone Health. That combination, evidence-building on one side and operational capacity on the other, gives founding partners a clearer path from early support to measured, real-world implementation.
Founding partners help inform early priorities.
Joining early is not just earlier funding. It is an opportunity to help inform early priorities while the foundational work is underway. Founding partners can help inform implementation cohorts, access priorities, and field-facing questions while research methods, safeguarding standards, and youth-safety practices remain governed through the Initiative’s research, safety, and stewardship structures.
The research questions
Help identify the field-facing questions that matter most to funders, youth-serving systems, and communities, while evaluation methods and research priorities remain governed through the Initiative’s research and evaluation process.
Safeguarding priorities
Help surface the questions and priorities that inform safeguarding practice as the model grows, while trust, safety, and governance standards remain set through the Initiative’s stewardship structure.
Who gets reached first
Help inform which youth populations, communities, and care pathways sponsored access reaches first, and how implementation cohorts are defined.
For detail on evaluation, see Research; for safeguarding and governance, see Trust & Transparency. The ways partner organizations inform the model are developed with each partner and governed by the Initiative’s research, safety, and stewardship structures.
Partners who believe the first encounter matters.
The Initiative is assembling a select group of mission-aligned funders, providers, and community partners to help build prevention infrastructure for vulnerable youth.
Philanthropy
Foundations
Mission-driven philanthropy investing in youth safety, mental wellbeing, and prevention infrastructure.
Family offices
Families and major philanthropists seeking measurable, high-leverage impact for the next generation.
Healthcare & Education
Healthcare organizations
Health systems interested in integrating early, human-led support into youth care pathways.
Children's hospitals
Pediatric leaders interested in extending trusted support to young people and families beyond the clinic.
School districts
Educators interested in expanding prevention and trusted connection for students.
Community & Public Sector
Community organizations
Trusted local institutions ready to bring funded access to the youth and families they serve.
Faith-based organizations
Congregations and faith networks interested in extending care and connection to vulnerable young people.
Public-sector agencies
Government and public-health partners interested in scaling prevention across geographies and populations.
Research & Youth Safety
Research institutions
Academic and research partners interested in contributing to the evidence base for human-led prevention.
Child-safety organizations
Specialists in safeguarding who can help strengthen prevention practice and protection standards.
Youth advocacy organizations
Advocates working to keep young people’s safety and voice at the center of digital life.
Corporate & Social Impact
Corporate sponsors
Companies advancing social impact and digital wellbeing through visible, credible support.
Help build trusted youth support for the next generation.
A select group of launch-phase partners will help expand youth access, advance research, support innovation, build prevention infrastructure, and demonstrate how trusted human connection can be delivered responsibly across defined youth populations.
Foundation grant
Multi-year philanthropic support that expands sponsored access and supports independent evaluation.
Family office / major gift
A leadership commitment from a family office or major philanthropist to help anchor the founding cohort.
Healthcare integration
Supporting implementation of early, human-led prevention within pediatric and youth care pathways.
Corporate sponsorship
A credible, visible social-impact commitment that helps fund sponsored access for a defined youth population.
Research collaboration
Supporting the evaluation effort with UIC to strengthen the evidence base for prevention over time.
Public-sector & community
Implementation with public agencies and community partners to support defined geographies and cohorts.
Partnership structures are illustrative and shaped with each partner. Sponsored access is designed for defined youth populations, communities, schools, healthcare pathways, and implementation cohorts.
Let's start the conversation.
Tell us about your organization and the populations you serve. We’ll follow up to explore how a founding partnership could expand sponsored youth access, advance research, and build prevention infrastructure together.
A direct conversation
A direct conversation with the Initiative team, with no obligation.
Shaped around your mission
A partnership structured around your mission, populations, and goals.
Transparency throughout
Clear communication on research, safeguarding, and how funds support access.
If you or a young person needs immediate help, call or text 988, or chat through the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. The Chaperone Initiative is not a crisis or emergency service, and we never gate anyone in crisis behind a form.
Find your partnership path.
Founding Partners is the institutional partnership hub for the Initiative. Choose the path that fits your organization to see how founding support can expand sponsored access for young people.
Foundations & Family Offices
Mission-driven philanthropy anchoring the founding cohort with multi-year support that expands sponsored access and supports independent evaluation.
Healthcare Systems
Health systems interested in integrating early, human-led support into pediatric and youth care pathways, delivered operationally by Chaperone Health.
Schools & Youth-Serving Programs
Schools and youth-serving programs interested in expanding prevention and trusted connection for the students and young people they serve.
Public Sector & Community Partners
Government, public-health, and community partners interested in scaling prevention across defined geographies, populations, and implementation cohorts.
Corporate Social Impact Sponsors
Companies advancing social impact and digital wellbeing through a credible, visible commitment that helps fund sponsored access for a defined youth population.
Each path is delivered in partnership with the University of Illinois Chicago for research and evaluation, with Chaperone Health as the operational delivery partner.