The mission of the Youth Department is to support young people's life choices and their sense of responsibility as well as to increase their participation. In the first place this means creating the prerequisites for moral and ideological growth; secondly it means facilitating their skills, motivation and experiences in civic interaction, and thirdly it means shouldering responsibilities for young people's social risks and place in society.

The City of Helsinki is the biggest municipal actor
in youth affairs in Finland

Within the City of Helsinki's organisation, the Youth Department forms part of the education activities as do all education and adult education related departments - formal and informal learning fall under the responsibilities of the same Deputy Mayor. In total the City of Helsinki employs nearly 40,000 people of whom nearly 400 work in the Youth Department. The Youth Department budget is around Me 23.

The Youth Department is governed by the politically-appointed committee. The Youth Affairs Committee has nine members with a period of office of four years.

The Youth Department is led by Director Tommi Laitio.