Jason Watson was born with a knack for connecting easily with others, influencing those around him, and exhibiting a resourceful mentality.

The youngest of 10 siblings to an addicted mother and a deceased father, Jason grew up in an impoverished neighborhood. Nearly all his neighbors shared the tragic bonds of being completely broke and of having incarcerated family members. As a young boy, Jason remembers not having Christmas presents under the tree yet not feeling bad about it because neither did most of his friends.

But what Jason remembers most poignantly from childhood wasn’t a lack of material possession, it was a profound lack of hope. Let me explain.