Outta Here helps young people ages 13 to 24 get their first U.S. passport — and then work out somewhere to take it.
Three specific, solvable things stand between a young person and a passport. None of them is ambition.
A first-time passport costs $130 to the State Department plus a $35 execution fee at the acceptance facility — $135 total for applicants under 16. In a household already stretched thin, it is the expense that gets postponed every single year.
A first passport must be applied for in person, with original citizenship documents, in front of an authorized acceptance agent. Most families have never been told any of that.
It is hard to apply for something you have never watched anyone apply for. Many of the young people we meet do not know a single person who holds a passport.
We accept referrals only through organizations that already serve young people — schools, foster and transition-age programs, community centers, and others. The relationship starts with an adult they already trust.
We sit down with the young person, their family, and their staff contact to walk through eligibility, documents, and guardian consent before anyone fills out anything.
We help track down birth certificates and photo ID, handle the passport photo, and cover the application and execution fees in full.
Someone from Outta Here goes with them to the acceptance facility. The first time you hand your documents to a federal agent should not happen alone.
Then we start on the harder part — connecting young people to a first trip worth taking, and to the people who can help them keep going.
Run a program that serves young people ages 13 to 24? Become a referral partner.
Every gift is tracked to the purpose it was given for. Outta Here is an independent 501(c)(3); contributions are tax‑deductible to the extent allowed by law.
One first-time passport, covered in full — the $130 application fee plus the $35 execution fee, at any age we serve.
Ten young people through the passport process end to end, from first conversation to the document in their hands.
One full Departures cohort — eight weeks of travel education for fifteen young people, meals, mentors, materials, and the first crossing that ends it.
Fees reflect the U.S. Department of State passport fee schedule, updated February 2026. Current amounts are published at travel.state.gov.
Outta Here was founded on a simple observation: a great many Americans never get a passport, and the ones who don’t are not spread evenly across the map. Whole neighborhoods grow up without one.
We started in San Diego and reach young people through the organizations that already serve them, working with ages 13 to 24 — old enough to travel, young enough that a first passport can change what they believe is available to them. We handle the cost, the paperwork, and the part nobody talks about: having someone in your corner who has done it before.