Active programs across Southern California.
Founded in 2022 on the belief that the wild can do what walls cannot — and everyone deserves a second chance.
Outside the City is created by the same team behind Teen Health, Inc.
We didn't start from scratch. Outside the City is a program of Teen Health, Inc. — built and run by the same people, bringing years of experience supporting young people into a new set of programs designed around the outdoors: healing, connection, and second chances.
We operate as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit under Teen Health, Inc. (EIN 87-4628884). We serve participants across Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties. We charge them nothing. Ever.
The problem —
and the proof.
The scope of youth gang involvement.
Gangs often recruit vulnerable youth by offering a false sense of belonging and opportunity, especially where family support or positive role models are lacking. Tens of thousands of California students self-report gang affiliation, and 13 is the most common age to join a gang (Source: ASU).
Gang affiliation seems like a form of security, offering financial gain, personal protection, and a sense of belonging.
Community-based initiatives that promote unity and resilience are essential in combating the effects of gang culture: increased violence, cycles of trauma, incarceration, and disrupted life opportunity.
Why outdoor adventure
delivers impact.
Youth in wilderness and outdoor adventure programs show significant, lasting gains in resilience, self-esteem, and social functioning.
Regular time in nature and structured outdoor activity is linked to lower stress and anxiety and better emotional regulation, especially among at-risk youth.
Source: Li et al. (2021), Life Course Nature Exposure and Mental Health Outcomes, MDPI
Outdoor programs build cooperation, problem-solving, and belonging while reinforcing positive peer and mentor relationships.
Our impact so far.
Since 2023, we have provided free experiential outdoor adventures for more than 500 formerly gang-involved and previously incarcerated individuals.
Adventure. Belonging.
Purpose. Opportunity.
To connect formerly gang-involved, unhoused, and underserved youth — and the adults rebuilding beside them — to nature, belonging, purpose, and opportunity through life-changing outdoor experiences.
Kinship
We create spaces where people feel seen, valued, and supported. Healing starts with being held, not fixed.
Growth Through Experience
We deliver real-world learning and resilience through challenge, adventure, and the outdoors.
Rewriting the Narrative
We challenge limiting narratives — breaking cycles of stigma and trauma to turn setbacks into leadership.
We work alongside Homeboy Industries, the Kinship Project, and probation and re-entry organizations across Southern California to reach the young people who need us most.
- Homeboy Industries
- Kinship Project
- Probation programs
- Re-entry organizations
Steward
the land.
Getting young people outside is the first agenda. Protecting the places that heal them is the second — because the youth who come to love a place become the ones who defend it.
Our actions
- 01Trail stewardship and habitat restoration on the land we use
- 02Leave No Trace certification for our youth program leaders
- 03Partnerships with the U.S. Forest Service, BLM, and land trusts
- 04A long-term commitment to protecting open space
Why access matters:
Access is a right, not a privilege
The health benefits of time in nature — calmer minds, stronger bodies, sharper focus — belong to everyone. ZIP code, background, and past shouldn't decide who gets them.
Connection creates the will to protect
We fight for the places we know and love. Outside the City builds that connection — one outing, one young person at a time.
Stewardship is learned, then passed on
Leave No Trace. Respect the ecosystem. Carry out what you carry in. Not rules — a tradition passed from person to person.
Public land is shared wealth
Few people can own a mountain. Everyone can hike one. Public land is one of the last great equalizers in American life.
Stronger together
Hikers, skiers, bikers, climbers, paddlers — our differences are real, but the threats to public land are bigger than any of them.
Advocates are made, not born
From 2001 to 2017, the U.S. lost an acre of natural habitat every 30 seconds. We're in the business of reversing that — one place at a time.