NAMI has built it’s organization on four cornerstones: Support, Education, Advocacy and Research. With more than 220,000 members in 2002, and 1200 state and local affiliates in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and American District of Samoa and Canada. NAMI’s members work to bring hope and progress to thousands of people with severe mental illness. Founded in 1987, the Jacksonville affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, is an informal organization of the family and friends of people with a mental illness.