Why We Stopped Hiring Chaperones

Lessons from a Decade of Youth–Adult Partnership

Lesson #2:

In our first lesson, we shared why we developed a youth leadership curriculum rather than expecting young people to simply “show up” ready to lead. This lesson focuses on the other half of the equation: the adults.

One of the most important lessons we learned over ten years of supporting Youth Advisory Boards was that the words we used created the work we got.

For years, we hired adults to transport young people to meetings and events. Depending on the context, we called them “drivers,” “transporters,” or “chaperones.”

The results were disappointing.

We struggled to recruit people for these part-time positions. And when we did, many understandably saw their responsibility as simply getting youth safely from Point A to Point B. Once the meeting began, they often sat in the back of the room, scrolling through their phones, waiting until it was time to drive everyone home.

The problem wasn’t the people.

It was the role we had created.

The title, description, and expectations communicated that transportation—not youth development—was the purpose of the job.

Then it occurred to me that we were recruiting for exactly the job we were getting. If we wanted adults to engage youth, we needed to hire for youth engagement—not transportation.

So we made what seemed like a small change.

We renamed the position Youth Engagement Worker (YEW).

Transportation remained an essential responsibility, but it became only one part of a much broader role. We sought adults who would build relationships with youth, notice who was quiet, encourage participation, model professionalism, create a sense of belonging, and support young people’s growth before, during, and after every meeting.

Everything changed.

A different group of applicants began applying. Teachers. Youth workers. Mentors. People whose professional identity centered on developing young people rather than simply supervising them.

Our adult team became stronger, more diverse in experience, and far more engaged. Youth noticed the difference. Meetings became richer because every adult in the room understood they were there to contribute to the learning environment, not simply occupy a chair until it was time to leave. The young people in the room had access to multiple leadership sytles and were more likely to find one that really spoke to them.

The lesson extended far beyond Youth Advisory Boards.

Youth advocacy is fundamentally about youth–adult partnership. While young people are the leaders, adults create the conditions in which leadership can flourish.

Research consistently shows that one of the greatest benefits young people gain through Youth Advisory Boards is not simply leadership experience or civic engagement. It is the meaningful relationships they develop with caring adults. We saw that reality play out over and over again.

That realization transformed how we thought about staffing.

By expanding our team of Youth Engagement Workers, we weren’t simply adding logistical support. We were intentionally increasing the number of trusted adults available to mentor, encourage, coach, challenge, and genuinely know our young people. Every additional Youth Engagement Worker represented another opportunity for a young person to experience consistency, belonging, and positive adult partnership.

We also learned that changing the title alone was not enough. Youth Engagement Workers needed ongoing training, coaching, and opportunities to learn from one another. Together, we wrestled with questions such as:

• How do we engage youth in authentic conversation during the drive without making them feel interrogated? -  or delving into personal issues, idle gossip from the young people about their peers and maintain strong professional boundaries while building a strong stable relationship?

• What conversations belong in the car, and which are better saved for another setting?

• How should we respond if inappropriate touching, vaping, drug use, or other unsafe behavior occurs during transportation?

• When should a Youth Engagement Worker determine that a young person is not ready to participate in a meeting or event?

• How do we create consistent expectations around waiting times, vehicle safety, seating arrangements, cameras, and other transportation protocols while still allowing room for professional judgment?

Those conversations strengthened not only our transportation practices but our youth–adult partnership practices. They reinforced that every interaction with a young person was an opportunity to build trust, model healthy relationships, and conversations, reinforce expectations, and foster growth.

Looking back, we came to understand that the rides to and from meetings were never just transportation. They were part of the intervention itself.

Transportation was simply the vehicle.

Relationships were the work.