LYNNWOOD—At Lynnwood-based family resource center, Family Peace Association USA, the organization believes that a family is a fundamental cornerstone piece that leads to building good citizens, secure communities, and ultimately results in sustainable peace.
FPA’s mission is to enlighten humanity by uplifting spiritual consciousness through universal principles and values rooted in God-centered families. They do this by partnering with government agencies and local nonprofits to host family-building workshops and events.
While the Family Peace Association USA focuses onGod-centered family values and principles, according to Yoshitaka “Yoshi” Goto, National Youth Director at FPA, the organization is non-denominational and welcoming of anyone regardless of religion or creed.
“Many different faith-based groups share this idea that family is an intrinsic, universal, treasured value,” said Goto. “Uplifting family ideals, what it means to be a parent, what it means to be a good dad or a good mom, being able to care and self-sacrifice for kids and ultimately parents being the primary teachers.”
Though Goto’s role is Youth Director at FPA he often still works with parents because, as he put it, parents learning how to be more resilient, brave, and a good leader directly impacts a child’s upbringing.
Just a couple of events the FPA has hosted recently include a Halloween costume making day on September 21, in partnership with the Lynnwood Police Department, and a Family Safety Block Party. The organization plans to distribute the costumes made at their event on September 21 to families in need on October 5.
The association is also currently enrolling for its five-week Building Great Families program for $145 a person. The workshop will cover how to be a great role model for your child, how to become a moral and responsible leader, the holistic development of parents and grandparents, and strategies to create stronger families, among other topics.
The program, which will be taught by renown family services expert Dr. Tony Devine, Vice President of Education for the Global Peace Foundation, starts on October 9 and will be held each Wednesday evening through November 6.
“It’s a program that will really encourage parents to come together, to learn, to reflect on, and to set actionable goals on how to build a better family,” said Goto adding that the definition of “better family” can very family to family.
FPA is currently working on building its roster of partners in order to revamp up its programs moving forward.
Family Peace Association opened their Lynnwood location, called the Pacific Peace Center, in 2021 after relocating from a small office space in Edmonds. Located at 6328 180th Street Southwest just north of the upcoming VOA Lynnwood Neighborhood Center, The Pacific Peace Center will eventually be renovated to a community gathering space which will house couples programs, parenting programs, workshops and roundtable discussions all centered on building stronger families. The organization is also considering offering educational services, such as a homeschooling center for children, in the near future.
“We believe in the model where you have to set up a purpose and objective, you take action, then you have a reflection period. That reflection and discussion, analyzing the action in relation to the goal is very important in human growth,” said Goto. “That’s the type of expertise we want to bring to communities.”
When the Peace Center completes its renovation the goal is to offer a variety of services for a variety of life stages.
Though FPA has the Pacific Peace Center as a sort of home-base Goto informed the Lynnwood Times the organization is also extremely willing to head out into the community and meet those in need of their services where they are. The organization also offers instructional resources on its website.
“FPA works with families under the mutual agreement to serve the bigger community,” said Goto. “Resiliency comes with teamwork, as a team, as a community.”
Anyone seeking a tour of the Peace Center can contact FPA by email at: usa@family-peace.org. Agencies who think their values align with FPA’s and are interested in working with them as a partner can also contact FPA by using that email.
“We really want to create meaningful partnerships with other communities, other organizations, other churches, religious groups, that are about defending and uplifting the family,” said Goto. “My objective is to find organizations that resonate with our mission, who we can work with to figure out what to do together to impact communities and greater society.”
To sign up for the FPA’s newsletter, which includes blogs, resources, and upcoming events and programs visit: https://usa.family-peace.org/
