There is no set federal agency on youth in the United States. Instead, Youth is a cross-departmental issue, meaning various ministries in the United States also offer programs targeting youth, e. g. the U. S. Department of Labor or the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Thus, there is no uniform national youth policy in this form. Therefore, there is no holistic youth policy agenda.

This is partly due to the federal constitution of the USA, which assigns different powers to the federal government and the states. The strong decentralization of political power is typical of U.S. politics. Consequently, state governments and local districts have extensive powers. Youth welfare traditionally falls under state jurisdiction and each of the 50 states and approximately 3,000 counties have their own complex systems in place. As a result, policies and practices at national, state, and local level are often very different in terms of funding and focus. By providing public funding and federal programs, the federal government can, however, still influence state policy and set specific youth policy priorities.

At the federal level, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services hast the highest budget allocated to youth programming. The Department is the government's primary agency for planning, funding, and coordinating federal youth services. Theaffiliated Administration for Children and Families (ACF is responsible for federal programs that provide economic and social support to families, children, individuals, and communities, as well as foster care and adoption services for children with special needs. ACF administers more than 60 programs with a budget of more than USD 60 billion, making it the second largest agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. The Office of Regional Operations, a subdivision of ACF also acts as the interface between the Department and local governments with a total of 10 statewide regional offices. These regional offices are responsible for implementing federal programs locally. Areas of focus for the Office of Families and Youth Services, which is also part of the ACF, include preventing youth homelessness, teen pregnancy, and domestic violence.  

The Interagency Working Group on Youth Programs (IWGYP) has representatives from twenty-one federal agencies including the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Labor. This Federal agency has many initiatives including programming on the prevention of underage drinking, fostering upward mobility for “opportunity youth” (low-income or at-risk young people), bullying prevention, working with the children of incarcerated parents, and more. On their website youth.gov, IWGYP offers several tools and resources to help youth-serving organizations, cities or counties plan, implement and participate in programs for youth. They also provide news around youth policy, funding opportunities and new programs. Currently they provide information on 29 topics that may affect youth, such as bullying in schools, out-of-school youth work, substance use, sex/gender identity, mental health, juvenile delinquency, and community engagement.

The majority of youth engagement, policy initiatives, and programming takes place at the state and local level and within a student’s school community or through non-profit organizations. For example, several national organizations have local chapters that work with youth in ways that are specific to their local contexts. The Boys and Girls Club of America has programming that aims to ensure that young people can reach their full potential. This includes promoting high school graduation, engaging Black, Latino, and female youth in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), building leadership skills, promoting mental and emotional health and wellness, and many other initiatives. Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America is another national organization with local chapters throughout the United States that facilitates mentor relationships with young people. The Children’s Defense Fund is a non-profit organization that has seven state offices across the United States that works to alleviate child poverty, promote early childhood education, prevent gun violence among young people, and promote rehabilitative services for young people who enter the juvenile justice system. In addition to these national organizations with local chapters, individual places have smaller more localized non-profit organizations that promote services and initiatives for young people.

The U.S. has a long tradition of addressing social issues through the philanthropic sector rather than the government (bottum-up vs. top-down). This affects national youth networks and associations as there is reluctance to organize in central umbrella. As a result, there are only a few truly central youth organizations in the U.S., but an almost innumerable number of small grassroots organizations and initiatives addressing youth.