Welcome to Gaining Ground, an initiative dedicated to helping New Jersey's Charter Schools find and develop facilities.

Real Estate Advisory and Development Services, Inc. (READS) is the lead developer of Gaining Ground, an innovative real estate development initiative providing critical technical assistance, tools and resources for charter schools interested in financing and developing a permanent home for their school.

On this site, we have collected information, specialized tools, and other resources to help charter school leaders and operators find and/or renovate buildings to meet the educational needs of their students.

Please begin with our Introduction and then spend time working your way through the site, following step by step. We believe you will find much here that is relevant to any charter school seeking a permanent home.

Gaining Ground was created in 2005 as a partnership between Real Estate Advisory and Development Services (READS), Greater Brunswick Charter School (GBCS) and the New Jersey Charter Public Schools Association (NJCPSA). Originally funded for two years through a grant from the New Jersey Department of Education Charter School Dissemination Grant program, Gaining Ground has since received support from the JP Morgan Chase Foundation in 2008 and is currently supported, in part, through funding from the Achelis and Bodman Foundations and the  NJCPSA.