A home to come back to.
Outside the City already works. A permanent home base lets us do it every season, for hundreds more.
The model works. It just needs a home.
Today, every trip we run relies on borrowed locations — booked, packed, and torn down each time. It works, but it caps how many young people we can reach.
A permanent home base changes that. It gives us a stable, repeatable place to run programs from — one we can grow into and return to, instead of starting from scratch every season. It’s the difference between a program that fits where it can and one built to transform thousands more lives.
What makes a home base special.
We’re working toward our first permanent home in the Big Bear mountains — a base camp for healing, adventure, and belonging.
A real home, not borrowed space
A house that sleeps a full youth cohort — beds, a kitchen, a table to gather around. No tents, no scramble for a venue.
Minutes from everything
Skiing, hiking, biking, and a lake, all within a short drive. One base, every kind of adventure.
Always ready
Gear stored on-site and a known destination for every trip, every season — so we can say yes faster and more often.
One home, every partner agency
A consistent base that Homeboy Industries, the Kinship Project, and other partners can build right into their calendars.
Help us build
Big Bear basecamp.
Whether you want to give, connect us with someone who can, or explore opening land for a future home base — we’d love to talk. Outside the City is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit under Teen Health, Inc., so gifts are tax-deductible.
Outfitting Supporter
$5,000 - $10,000
Individuals & Families
Youth gear caches, bunks, bedding, safety equipment, and house readiness.
- Impact report recognition
- Grand Opening tour invitation
- Sponsor-attributed social posts
The same model,
in more mountains.
The Big Bear home base is the first step, not the last. Our long-term vision is a network of home bases across the West — from the chaparral, high desert, and San Jacinto Mountains to places like Springdale, Utah, at the south entrance to Zion National Park — each opening the outdoors to more young people.
One proven model, repeated — a self-sustaining foundation that keeps free outings running for generations of youth to come.
