Former NFL player Marlin Jackson founded the Fight for Life Foundation with a mission to help young people build stronger futures through education, wellness, mentorship, and opportunity.
Based in Indianapolis, the organization works closely with schools, educators, students, and families to create environments where students feel supported both academically and personally. Their work recognizes that long-term student success is connected to more than classroom performance alone. It also depends on emotional well-being, trusted relationships, and access to the right support systems.
That belief became the foundation for Building Dreams, the organization’s social and emotional learning platform designed to help schools better understand and support student needs in real time.
At its core, the Foundation’s work is about creating spaces where students feel seen, supported, and equipped to grow both inside and outside the classroom.
The Fight for Life Foundation supports underserved youth through programs focused on mentorship, education, wellness, and technology. Their work spans both direct student support and larger systems designed to help schools and communities better respond to student needs.
A major part of the work is Building Dreams. This platform helps educators and administrators better understand student experiences through social and emotional learning tools, wellness check-ins, reporting, and data insights. It helps schools move beyond one-size-fits-all approaches by creating more visibility into how students are doing academically, emotionally, and socially. That information helps identify patterns, support intervention efforts, strengthen communication, and make more informed decisions around student well-being.
Beyond the platform itself, the Foundation continues to create opportunities for students through mentorship programs, STEM-based learning experiences, college- and career-readiness initiatives, and community partnerships that expand access and opportunity for young people across Indianapolis and beyond.
Their work also creates space for broader conversations about trauma-informed care, evidence-based educational strategies, and the importance of supporting the whole student rather than focusing solely on academic outcomes.
Our partnership with the Fight for Life Foundation has been built around collaboration, trust, and a shared belief in creating technology that supports people in meaningful ways. Together, we partnered to design and develop Building Dreams, helping to transform the Foundation’s vision into a scalable digital platform that could more effectively support schools, educators, students, and families.
On the technology side, we helped build the platform’s infrastructure, creating systems that support social and emotional learning initiatives, reporting, program management, and long-term scalability as adoption continues to grow.
What began as a partial in-kind investment evolved into a long-term partnership focused on supporting the Foundation’s mission through thoughtful, purpose-driven technology.
Our relationship also extends beyond software development. We are proud sponsors of the annual Building Dreams Champions Breakfast, an event that brings together educators, community leaders, and supporters around the Foundation’s mission and the ongoing impact of Building Dreams in schools and communities. We have also participated in community events such as the Foundation’s Colts Trivia Night, helping to support programming that creates mentorship opportunities, STEM experiences, and year-round support initiatives.
The Fight for Life Foundation’s impact is evident in how they approach student support as more than a single program or initiative. Their work helps create stronger connections between students, educators, families, and communities while giving schools better tools to understand what students may need to succeed. That matters because many of the challenges students face are not always visible through grades or attendance alone.
Building Dreams helps create a clearer picture of student well-being, allowing schools to respond more intentionally and proactively. At the same time, the Foundation’s broader work continues to create opportunities for mentorship, growth, and support that extend far beyond the classroom itself.
What makes their work especially meaningful is the way they combine people, technology, and community around a shared purpose. The goal is not simply to collect information. It’s creating environments where students feel supported, connected, and positioned for long-term success.
For us, that is what makes their work matter. They are helping schools create stronger systems of support while continuing to invest directly in the future of young people and the communities around them.
The Fight For Life Foundation is an Indianapolis-based nonprofit founded by Marlin Jackson that supports underserved youth through education, mentorship, wellness, and technology initiatives.
Building Dreams, the Foundation’s social and emotional learning platform, is designed to help schools better support students through wellness tools, reporting, insights, and communication resources.
The platform helps educators and administrators better understand student well-being through social and emotional learning tools, data insights, reporting, and student support resources, all of which encourage more informed decision-making.
Counterpart partnered with the Fight For Life Foundation to design and develop the Building Dreams platform, helping create the technical infrastructure needed to support long-term growth and impact.
Social and emotional learning helps students develop skills related to emotional awareness, communication, relationship-building, and self-management. These areas can have a meaningful impact on both academic success and overall student well-being.
In addition to Building Dreams, the Foundation supports students through mentorship programs, STEM experiences, college- and career-readiness initiatives, community partnerships, and wellness-focused programming.
