NAFI/NFI's Mission is to: "Create community environments based upon principles of dignity and respect that help children, adults and families to grow and change in order to better their lives and the world around them." Each NAFI/NFI program works to create a socially cohesive community united by the following shared goals:

• Building positive, pro-social communities;
• Replacing anti-social norms with pro-social norms;
• Raising expectations and standards of both staff and youth;
• Creating a sense of collective ability to deal with issues;
• Celebrating educational achievement and personal growth;
• Planning community events on site;
• Solving community issues or problems.

NAFI/NFI is a leading human services organization that works with numerous state and local agencies throughout the country in the delivery of human services programs. It also has gained a national reputation for pioneering interactive, inclusive trainings that have significantly impacted public and nonprofit service organizations.

Founded in 1974 by Dr. Yitzhak Bakal, NAFI/NFI's President, the agency grew out of a need to create alternative services for youth who were remanded to the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services state institutions, as the result of unruly and delinquent behavior. NAFI/NFI (then called Northeastern Family Institute, Inc.) began its work as a private service provider by developing a pioneering Outreach and Tracking program in Melrose, MA. After initial success, the agency soon developed a foster care component, to meet the needs of youth who could not remain at home. As the Commonwealth of Massachusetts led a national movement to privatize services for adjudicated delinquents, NFI continued to help meet the needs of this formerly institutionalized population. Today, NAFI/NFI operates more than 90 programs --residential, foster care, and day services for adolescents and adults -- in nine states, continuing its mission to develop community-based, continuums of care and treatment for children, youth, and adults at risk. NAFI/NFI is now comprised of five corporations: the parent corporation, North American Family Institute, Inc. (NAFI), NFI Massachusetts, Inc., NFI North, Inc., NFI Vermont, Inc. and NAFI Connecticut, Inc. Within the parent corporation (NAFI), there are three regions: the Rhode Island Region, the Mid-Atlantic Region (Maryland and Virginia) and the Southern Region (Florida).

In the mid-1990s, NAFI/NFI developed a Training and Consulting Group that has been providing cutting edge consulting services to public and private organizations in the fields of human services, law enforcement, health care and education.