YouthBuild USA, a division of YouthBuild, Inc., provides technical assistance, training, consultation, quality assurance tools, and other resources to government, donors, schools, youth groups, and more than 226 independent NGOs in 44 states. YouthBuild USA is the national intermediary for the YouthBuild Affiliated Network.

The mission of YouthBuild USA is to unleash the positive energy of low-income young adults to rebuild their communities and their lives, breaking the cycle of poverty with a commitment to work, education, community, and family.

In the US YouthBuild programs, low-income young people ages 16-24 work toward their GED or high school diploma while learning job skills by building affordable housing for homeless and low-income people. Emphasis is placed on leadership development, community service, and the creation of a positive mini-community of adults and youth committed to each other's success. Students may earn AmeriCorps education awards through their homebuilding service.

Since 1994, over 84,000 YouthBuild students have produced over 18,000 units of affordable, increasingly green, housing. In 2009, 226 YouthBuild programs engage over 8,000 young adults in the United States of America.

YouthBuild USA serves as the national support center for these programs and schools by orchestrating guidance and quality assurance in program implementation; leadership opportunities for youth and staff; research to understand best practices; innovative grants and loans; and advocacy for public funding. The National YouthBuild Coalition, organized by YouthBuild USA, includes more than 1,000 organizations in 49 states that advocate for YouthBuild programs. State YouthBuild Coalitions, sponsored by YouthBuild USA, are active in eleven states. YouthBuild USA contributes to the broader youth and community development fields in order to diminish poverty in the USA and worldwide.

Each local YouthBuild program secures its own funding, generally a mix of government (federal, state, and local) and private support. The federal YouthBuild program was first authorized in 1992 and was operated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) until September 2006, when the YouthBuild Transfer Act moved it from HUD to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). Since 1992, HUD and DOL have awarded YouthBuild grants and contracts through open competition totaling more than $755 million. They have repeatedly selected YouthBuild USA through competitive processes as the primary provider of training and technical assistance.

YouthBuild USA receives private support from the following foundations: Annie E. Casey, Bank of America, Bill & Melinda Gates, Charles Stewart Mott, Ford, Home Depot, Lilly Endowment, Lumina, Skoll, Wal-Mart, Walter S. Johnson, and W.K. Kellogg. These grants support leadership development, innovation, and long-term sustainability at local programs. YouthBuild USA receives major public grants and contracts from DOL, HUD, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

History:
In 1978, Dorothy Stoneman, now president of YouthBuild USA, asked neighborhood teens in East Harlem, NY, how they would like to improve their community. They answered, "We'd rebuild the houses. We'd take empty buildings back from the drug dealers and eliminate crime." Together they did a gut rehabilitation of a ten-unit apartment building and then replicated the program in five New York City communities during the 1980s. In 1990, YouthBuild USA was founded to orchestrate the YouthBuild national replication. By 1992 the program had been replicated in 11 cities and authorized in the federal budget.

YouthBuild has been supported by a bi-partisan majority in both Houses of Congress led by Senator John Kerry (D-MA) through four Presidential Administrations. President Obama aims to expand it to 50,000 young people/year.