Fight for Life Impact

Marlin Jackson’s Building Dreams Champions Breakfast Hosts “Voices From the Classroom” Educator Panel Discussion, Celebrates Students, Educators, Volunteers, and Community Partners

June 13, 2025

Fight For Life Foundation hosts its 3rd annual Building Dreams Champions Breakfast celebrating platform users who logged over 1 million user engagements and more than 212,000 positive behavior entries during the 2024-2025 school year

Fight For Life Foundation hosts its 3rd annual Building Dreams Champions Breakfast celebrating platform users who logged over 1 million user engagements and more than 212,000 positive behavior entries during the 2024-2025 school year

Fight for Life Foundation (FFLF), an Indianapolis not for profit organization that helps youth develop by providing social-emotional wellness resources, will host its third annual Building Dreams Champions Breakfast on Friday, June 13 from 8:30–10 a.m., at The Skyline Club in downtown Indianapolis. The event will recognize students, educators, volunteers, and community partners who supported youth this school year. For the first time ever, it will also feature “Voices from the Classroom” – a panel discussion with educators using FFLF’s flagship digital platform, Building Dreams.

The 30-minute panel, moderated by event emcee Olivia West (in-game host for the Indiana Pacers and Indiana Fever), includes:

Dr. Tihesha Henderson, Founder & Executive Director, Sankofa School of Success
Daria Parham, newly appointed Executive Director of Schools, IPS (former principal, Frederick Douglass School 19)
William Pate, Assistant Principal, George and Veronica Phalen Leadership Academy (GVPLA)
Omega Robinson, City Connects Coordinator, Sankofa School of Success
Alesia Thomas, teacher, Frederick Douglas School 19

“This event celebrates those on the frontlines of education who are working to engage students in bold, new ways,” said Marlin Jackson, FFLF Founder & CEO and former Indianapolis Colt. “We’re also amplifying voices – giving educators a platform to share what’s working, what’s not, and what’s really needed to support students.”

Listed below are the 2024-2025 honorees:

Building Dreams Educator Champions

Building Dreams School Champion

Building Dreams Student Champions

Building Dreams Volunteer Champions

Building Dreams Partner Champion

“It’s no secret that it takes a comprehensive, holistic approach in order to understand underlying factors that might be keeping students from learning,” Jackson said. “It also takes a multitude of people invested in student success, including those willing to look at the data and act on it. This is why this event is key: it’s our chance to pause and express our gratitude for all involved.”

Real-time information and organization research has helped educators focus on student social emotional wellness, school environment improvements, relationship building, attendance & absenteeism interventions, and more. During a 2022 machine learning study conducted in partnership with Jackson, Dr. Carolyn Gentle-Genitty, (Attendance USA founder and inaugural dean of Founder’s College at Butler University), and researcher Dr. Francis Bowen, used more than 20,000 recorded behaviors in Building Dreams to train a classifier with 90.2 percent accuracy and uncovered a major underlying factor directly affecting absenteeism: the importance of peer relationships. (Read the report here.) In the 2024–2025 school year, 13 partner schools serving over 6,200 Indianapolis students (in IPS, township, innovation, and charter schools), used Building Dreams. This year alone, platform users logged over 1 million user engagements and more than 212,000 positive behavior entries.

To learn more about Fight for Life Foundation and its Building Dreams platform, visit fightforlifefoundation.org. Event tickets are $50 on a first-come, first-serve basis. All guests will also receive a FREE one-year subscription to the Indianapolis Recorder. Visit https://shorturl.at/AM2P2 for more information.

About Fight for Life Foundation (FFLF)
Founded in 2007 by former Indianapolis Colts cornerback Marlin Jackson, Fight For Life Foundation helps youth develop the social and emotional qualities needed for success. Since that time it has grown into an independent 501(c)3 organization delivering services to thousands of youth. In 2018, FFLF created Building Dreams, the organization’s award-winning, flagship program that supports mental wellness and social-emotional wellness by giving schools and youth serving organizations practical, digital tools to promote positive student behavior, emotional regulation, and a safe school climate. This includes engaging students with a fun, gamified program that rewards their responsible decision-making and ultimately helps meet their needs. It also equips administrators with the data they need to support their teachers and students with resources to improve classroom management and student behavior issues. Some schools are directly using software modules to monitor absenteeism (and related underlying issues), combat bullying, provide students with mechanisms to anonymously report (or self-report) safety issues, understand the needs of their students, teach critical social-emotional competencies, and more. Though it can do all of this, it is still FERPA and HIPAA compliant. For more information, visit: fightforlifefoundation.org.

Marlin Jackson is a former Indianapolis Colt and founder of Fight for Life Foundation. A University of Michigan graduate, Marlin is a social entrepreneur and lifelong learner who views every experience as an opportunity to grow. His journey from collegiate and professional football to nonprofit leadership shaped his disciplined, structured, and purpose-driven approach to life and work. Throughout his career—as team captain at Michigan, a Super Bowl-winning NFL player, sports analyst, and now President of multiple ventures including Fight for Life Foundation, Revive Investments, and MarlinJ28—Marlin has demonstrated leadership, resilience, and a passion for impact. He is deeply committed to faith, family, and helping others succeed. Marlin and his wife, Nikki, live in Indianapolis with their three sons: Camden, Kingston, and Kash. Learn more here.

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