Our mission is to increase the number of autism-focused educators and therapists to meet the current and future needs of students on the autism spectrum. We accomplish this by providing scholarships to students who are pursuing graduate degrees and want to work in Special Education or autism-focused therapies so they can improve cognitive, social and daily life skill outcomes for children and adults on the spectrum. We have scholarship programs with Monmouth, Rutgers and Temple University. The autism diagnosis rate in the U.S. is a staggering 1 in 44 among 8-year old children. That figure equates to roughly 150 new diagnoses a day and approximately 60,000 children with autism entering our school systems each year. In New Jersey, where the foundation is located, the diagnosis rates is 1 in 35, which is the second highest in the country and equates to 3,000 children each year receiving an autism diagnosis. The challenge is that there are simply not enough educators and therapists to work with children with autism, so our foundation takes a unique approach to keeping individuals interested and incentivized to stay in these fields and work with individuals on the spectrum.