Heritage trips for young adults
Making international travel a rite of passage for every person.
OneThread sends young Americans on ten day trips to the countries their families came from. Thirty people travel together, live the culture up close, and come home with friendships that last. Sponsors and partner countries cover most of the cost, so the trip stays within reach for the people who should take it.
10
Days on the ground
21–30
Ages of our travelers
3
Partners behind every trip
$500
All a participant pays
Why it matters
61%
of Americans aged 18 to 25 report serious loneliness in national surveys.
This is the most connected generation in history, and one of the loneliest. Most of its social life runs through a screen. Friendships built in person, over shared meals and long days together, have become harder to come by.
We believe ten days of real life can do a lot. Time in the country your family came from, alongside thirty people your age, builds friendships and a sense of identity that stay with you. Travel like that has always been out of reach for most young people. Our work is making it affordable.
The model
Three partners, one trip
Each trip brings three groups together, and each one leaves with something real. Participants bring their time, their curiosity, and a small fee. A partner country invests in welcoming its diaspora home. Sponsors fund most of the trip in exchange for genuine time with people they want to know. The result is a program that pays for itself and keeps going.
Participant
What stands in the way
International travel costs more than most young adults can spend, so most never go.
What the trip gives them
Flights, lodging, and ten full days, covered. Participants pay a $500 application fee and bring themselves.
Partner Country
What stands in the way
Tourism budgets are large, and it is hard to know what they actually buy.
What the trip gives them
First-time visitors with family ties to the country, a say in the route they travel, and a generation of returning guests.
Sponsor
What stands in the way
Young adults get harder to reach through advertising every year.
What the trip gives them
Ten days of real life alongside the people they want to reach, with insights shared only when participants choose to share them.
The pilot: Birthright Ireland
Ireland comes first. More than thirty million Americans have Irish roots, though for most the connection lives in a surname, a story, or a county a grandparent once mentioned. Birthright Ireland makes it real: ten days of cities and coastline, music and conversation, shared with thirty travelers who begin as strangers and rarely end that way.
Birthright Ireland is a working title inspired by the Birthright model, and OneThread is not affiliated with Taglit-Birthright Israel. Ireland is where we begin. Italy, France, and other heritage destinations will follow.
Why OneThread
The first scalable, sponsor-funded heritage immersion platform that turns 10-day cohort trips into a three-party value engine.
The format works
Cohort trips like this have run for decades in other communities. Hundreds of thousands of alumni describe them the same way: ten days that changed how they see themselves.
It sustains itself
Because every partner gets real value, the program grows on its own strength instead of leaning on charity. That is what lets it reach more people every year.
People come first
Commercial decisions answer to one question: does this make the trip better for the people on it? Sponsors who fit that test make the experience richer. The ones who don't, we pass on.
Get in touch
Two ways to be part of this
For partners and sponsors
Governments, tourism boards, and brands that want to be part of the trip.
“Ten days of real time with an audience no ad can reach.”
For participants
Young Americans, ages 21 to 30, with Irish roots or a strong pull toward Ireland.
“Come find the place your family came from.”
Or write to us directly at hello@onethread.world