The Social-Impact Vacation Is Here

When you think about a summer getaway, Detroit might not be the first place on your list. But on June 10, that’s where Nathalie Molina Niño, 40, an adviser to female entrepreneurs, will fly to from her home in New York. She took the same trip last year, paying $1,500 along with 125 other bright, young, civic-minded individuals to tour the city and talk to the business community. The highlight: a brainstorming session with Amy Peterson, co-founder of Rebel Nell, a company that hires disadvantaged women to turn chunks of graffiti into jewelry. “We spent close to three hours with her,” Molina Niño says. “We created a Facebook group so after we left she could stay in touch.” Attendees were booked at the Greektown Casino-Hotel and did a nighttime biking tour, Molina Niño says, but mostly they were there for one reason—to offer their opinions to struggling business owners.

It’s not a weekend on the beach, but excursions like these are more and more popular among a new generation of mostly millennial travelers. Molina Niño’s trips to Detroit were organized by Breakout, a leading company in what’s known as the social-impact travel industry. Unlike “voluntourism” programs such as Habitat for Humanity, which appeal mainly to students, Breakout targets professionals age 29 to 36. A third of its 1,500 core members work in tech, a quarter in media and creative fields; 98 percent went to a four-year college. Becoming a member requires an interview. “We or one of our ambassadors will have a sitdown to ensure we’re getting a good fit,” says Michael Farber, 32, who founded Breakout with Graham Cohen, 31, in 2014.