Outta Here is an independent 501(c)(3). We remove the barriers between young people ages 13 to 24 and their first passport — then we make sure they know what to do with it.
We cover the fees. We clear the paperwork. And we introduce young people to the person who proves it can be done — because for most of the young people we serve, the hardest barrier was never money. It was never having watched anyone do it.
Application and execution fees covered in full, documents sorted, guardian consent navigated, and someone beside them at the appointment.
Eight weeks on how travel actually works — visas, money, study abroad, working abroad, safety, and culture — ending with a first crossing.
A network of San Diegans who have studied, worked, served, and lived abroad, recruited from the same neighborhoods as the young people they meet.
The gap in who gets to go is not a gap in ambition.
Research on household mobility finds that young people in lower-income households consistently travel less and have fewer chances to move beyond their immediate surroundings than higher-income peers — a difference that compounds over time into unequal exposure and unequal access to what comes next.
Liu, Y., & Uddin, M. (2024). Mobility Gaps between Low-Income and Not Low-Income Households: A Case Study in New York State. arXiv preprint.
Outta Here was founded by Chida Warren — an author, professor, public servant, advocate, and mother who has spent more than two decades working in government, higher education, and civic engagement. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies and a Master of Public Administration, and has built a career on expanding access to opportunities that change what people believe is available to them.
Exposure creates possibility.
Across those years, she watched the same pattern repeat: access, or the absence of it, quietly sets the ceiling on what a young person can picture for themselves. Outta Here came out of that observation, with one job — remove the financial and practical barriers standing between underserved young people and the world.
Having lived and traveled abroad herself, Chida knows what those experiences do. They broaden what you notice, deepen what you understand about people unlike you, and make plain that a passport is not really a travel document. It is a gateway to educational, professional, and personal opportunities that are otherwise invisible. Through Outta Here, she is set on making sure young people get to see past what is familiar, dream bigger, and find out that the world was within reach the whole time.
Founder & Executive Director
Outta Here is an independent California nonprofit public benefit corporation with 501(c)(3) status, governed by a seven-member board of directors. Financial documents are available on request.
Refer a young person, fund one, or go tell a room full of them how you did it.