Donation Opportunities

In 1998, Brigham Young University created a new School of Family Life. The mandate for the new School was imperative--to reach across campus and draw upon the best possible scholars to teach, support, and defend sacred principles of family life outlined in the Proclamation on the Family.

With this mandate, the School outlined three primary goals that would undergird everything done to sustain and support families:

1. Strengthen marriage worldwide
2. Make the world a better place for children, their parents, and individual family members
3. Help societies and governments be more friendly to marriages and families

To achieve these goals the School of Family Life will:

TEACH principles of successful marriage, parenting, optimal human development, and home life. Specifically

• Teach marriage classes, upgrade courses, and increase student participation from 10 to 50 percent
• Develop and promote a class based on the themes of the proclamation and offer that course on a Web site
• Develop and promote a Web site based on the themes of the proclamation to which persons of all faiths could turn to for practical, scholarly, and sacred information on strengthening marriages and families

SUPPORT research and continue to discover and vigorously advance truth and knowledge about successful marriage and family life based on truths declared in the proclamation. Including:

• Establish a Marriage Resource Center
• Write and publish books on themes of the proclamation
• Develop a network of scholars in multiple university disciplines to help create solutions for family problems

DEFEND the family and actively share knowledge with friends and members of the Church in all parts of the world by (1) arming family advocates with vital information and truth and (2) taking a proactive riles in sharing information with governmental bodies making decisions that affect the family. Principally:

• Sponsor marriage and family policy conferences for scholars and policy makers to strengthen marriages and families
• Provide substantive information and research to support the World Family Policy Center, the J Reuben Clark Law School's family NGO advocating profamily policies in the United Nations
• Support the World Family Policy Forum

To achieve the listed objectives and bless families worldwide will require in excess of $23 million dollars of supplemental funding within the next few years. Your support along with that of other committed individuals, families, and friends will allow new initiatives to unfold and support tools to be crafted.

The time has come when we can no longer stand in the sidelines and cheer others on. We must act decisively, and with force, to strengthen marriages and families. That force will come from a bold, united effort, sustained by research, information, and truth.

In his concluding remarks at the establishment of the School of Family Life, President Boyd K. Packer emphasized: "You must succeed. You must! And so, in closing, I invoke the blessings of the Lord upon you-upon all who have part with, who will have part with-this School of Family [Life],...I invoke that blessing upon you individually and collectively to the end that the family, the institution vital to the work of the Lord, will be preserved."

The School of Family life is seeking partners-those concerned enough about preserving families-who are willing to lend individual support to a worldwide effort. We invite your participation.

Contact:

Dr. James Harper, Director

School of Family Life

380 SWKT

Brigham Young University

Provo, UT 84602

(801) 422-9093