Growing Up Between Worlds
Before Roots International existed, there was a kid trying to figure out where he belonged. Jackson Lino knows what it feels like to grow up between worlds, to carry two cultures, two languages, two senses of self, and to feel like you never fully fit into either one. He knows the quiet confusion of walking into a new school system without knowing the rules, the unspoken pressure to adapt quickly, and the loneliness of carrying trauma that no one around you seems to notice or know how to ask about. "I refuse to let our youth walk that journey alone." That conviction didn't just start an organization. It started a movement and a community of people who believe exactly the same thing.
Meet the Founder
What He Wished Someone Had Told Him
Roots International wasn't built around a theory. It was built around memory, the memory of what was needed and not available, and the memory of what changed everything when it was finally found. Jackson remembers what it felt like to step onto a soccer field for the first time in a new country and to discover that the game didn't require him to explain himself. He didn't need the right words. He just needed to play. "I have seen with my own eyes how a soccer ball can break down walls faster than words. On the field, a young person who barely speaks English suddenly belongs. They laugh. They breathe. They come alive." Jackson remembers needing guidance and not knowing who to trust. Mentorship, for our team, has never been an abstract program; it's personal. "I know what it feels like to need guidance but not know who to trust. A mentor can change a young person's direction in life. I have experienced that personally, and still to this day experience it through those I see as mentors in my own life." Jackson remembers entering a new school system without knowing the language, the expectations, or the path forward. Many refugee and immigrant youth start behind academically, not because they lack ability, but because their education was interrupted by forces entirely outside their control. At Roots, we are committed to making education a bridge, never a barrier. Jackson remembers what creativity gave him when nothing else could. "Creativity saved me more times than I can count." Art became a place where pain, joy, identity, and culture could be expressed in ways words never allowed, and we have watched it do the same for the youth we serve. Jackson remembers being told, implicitly or explicitly, that his strengths didn't count, that translating for his family, adapting to a new culture, and surviving challenges most adults will never face weren't leadership. We see it differently. We always have. And Jackson remembers the weight of silence, the heaviness of carrying trauma, displacement, and identity struggles without language for any of it. That memory is why mental health support sits at the center of everything we do.
From Memory to Mission
Every one of these memories became a pathway. Not a program designed from the outside looking in, but a lifeline built from lived experience by people who understand what this support means, because many of us have needed it ourselves.
Sports became the doorway to connection, because we have watched it happen firsthand.
Mentorship became the foundation because we know what it means to finally have someone say, "I'm here. I believe in you. You matter," and we want every young person to hear it.
Education became a bridge, because we refuse to let interrupted schooling become a permanent setback.
Arts became a space to breathe, because creativity has saved people we love — and we have seen it save others.
Leadership became recognition rather than creation because we believe the youth Roots serves are already leaders. Many simply don't know it yet.
Mental health support became the most crucial pathway of all because we know exactly how heavy silence can feel, and we never want another young person to carry that alone.
Why This Is Personal for All of Us
"This work is not abstract to me. It is personal."
Jackson says this not as a tagline, but as a fact, and it reflects the conviction of everyone on the Roots team. We are not serving from a distance. We are invested with everything we have, not because we read about these challenges, but because we have lived them, witnessed them, and refused to look away.
That investment, watching a young person go from surviving to believing in their own potential, is what drives us. It is why Roots International exists, and it is why we show up for this work every single day.
An Invitation, Not Just an Origin Story
Roots International exists because Jackson refused to let his story end with himself. He wanted what he experienced, the breakthrough, the belief, the belonging, to become available to every young person who needs it. And he knew he couldn't build that alone.
"When anyone supports Roots International, they are not funding programs; they are investing in futures. They are helping young people discover their voice, their identity, and their potential. They are helping them build roots strong enough to anchor them through every storm, and deep enough to nourish them for years to come."
This is Jackson's story. But it was never meant to be his alone. It belongs to every mentor, volunteer, partner, and community member who has chosen to be part of what we are building and to every young person whose story is still being written.
Be part of the next chapter.
"I am committed to this mission with everything in me, and I hope my community can join me."
— Jackson Lino, Founder & Director, Roots International