A small core team, strong advisors, and a deep bench of volunteers who keep showing up, trip after trip.
Founder · Executive Director
Startup veteran whose career began with World Vision Relief. Father of a son with autism and epilepsy. Found his own outdoor compass on California beaches and Southwest backcountry trails — and built Outside the City in 2022 to share it.
Creative · Outreach
Three decades in advertising, marketing, and video production. Avid surfer and mountain biker. Believes the outdoors is the most honest mentor a person can have.
Controller
Finance and accounting lead with a background managing a $50M California company. University of Arkansas grad and Afghanistan veteran. Walks five miles a day, every day.
Advisor
Strategic advisor helping shape OTC's growth, partnerships, and long-term mission.
Outside the City was founded in 2022 by Scott Swift — a startup veteran who has built businesses in both for-profit and nonprofit sectors. As the father of a son with autism and epilepsy, Scott learned early that the right environment doesn't just shape behavior. It changes lives.
He had also found his own outdoor compass: years of California beach mornings, Southwest hiking and backpacking, and the kind of trips that send you home different than you left. He started Outside the City to offer that same compass to young adults who had been pulled into gangs, addiction, and the systems that follow.
We work with wilderness guides, team builders, endurance athletes, lifeguards, surfers, mountain bikers, and active seniors. Our volunteers are the heartbeat of every program — they show up at the trailhead at 6 a.m. and they keep showing up.