Youth in the USA
Topics in the Area of Children and Youth
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 alle - viate 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 or - ganizations with local chapters, individual places have smaller more localized non-profit organizations that pro - mote services and initiatives for young people. The U.S. has a long tradition of addressing social issues through the philanthropic sector rather than the govern - ment (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.
There are many organizations working to provide an even playing ground for youth from all backgrounds. While there are some government departments that promote youth policy priorities, these departments tend to have strong partnerships with non-profit and philan - thropic entities. States are typically wholly autonomous in how they implement and execute their various child and youth policy programs, but the federal government is able to especially ensure the constitutional rights of program participants and has been known to impose fines and to sue states over derelict or poorly funded programing. Further, the philanthropic and business in - dustries increasingly are having an impact on how these programs function and, through the power of their own funding, are able to also have influence on state policies in a more indirect way. Typically, funding works through whatever granting institution sends funds to the states and the state entities are then able to make decisions on how they would like to disburse funds – typically via organizations applying for the funds.
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