Who We Are

Our History

Gloucester County Special Services Education Foundation was created in March 2000, by a group of parents, educators and businesses to close a county-wide funding gap, amongst the 28 school districts in Gloucester County, for providing educational and interactive programs within each individual district.

In late 2001, Founding Board Members, led by Frank D'Amico, created the Autism Walk.

GCSSEF's efforts helped to design regionalized programs to augment resources, students and parents together, such as through the Bankbridge Development Center (BDC), a state-of-the-art facility located on the Gloucester County Education Campus in Sewell, NJ. BDC was designed and built to meet the needs of students classified with autism spectrum, Asberger's Syndrome, Down Syndrome, ADHD and other related disabilities. BDC is the hub for a full continuum of services to meet the needs of special education students in Gloucester County including an Education Facility for Autistic students, Autism Services, Early Intervention Services, Regional Council Services, Educational Resource/Research Center and Family Resource Center. In September 2007, the BDC developed three programs including Respite (aka "Fun Fridays"), Social Skills Groups and Community Workshops.

In 2010, GCSSEF partnered with Peddler's Shop to create a new annual cycling event, called The RIDE, and it continues to go on each year in June with The Walk in October. These events, along with many others throughout the year, are what keeps the programs going and growing into 2020.