Community Options, a leading national nonprofit supporting people with disabilities, is pleased to announce that President and CEO Robert Stack has been awarded the Barbara R. Trader Leadership Award from TASH, a prominent advocacy organization dedicated to promoting inclusion for individuals with disabilities.

Robert Stack founded Community Options in 1989 around his kitchen table in New Jersey. Today, the national nonprofit organization provides housing and employment supports to 6,000 people with disabilities and families in 12 states. The organization manages 650 homes in the community and over a dozen entrepreneurial businesses that train and employ people with disabilities. Stack has been a staunch advocate of deinstitutionalization and abolishing subminimum wages for people with disabilities.

“TASH is delighted to honor Robert for his continued support of our mission to advance inclusion for all people with disabilities,” said Michael Brogioli, Executive Director of TASH. “His leadership of Community Options has been extraordinary, and we applaud his commitment to freedom, dignity, self-determination, and inclusion for people with disabilities.”

Since 2015, the Barbara R. Trader Leadership Award has been presented to a TASH member who demonstrates extraordinary leadership toward the enrichment of the organization and its mission to advance inclusion for all people with disabilities. This individual must exemplify TASH values, possess a profile of courage, contribute to the growth and success of the organization, and promote TASH’s contribution to advocacy for individuals with disabilities.

“It’s an honor to be selected for this prestigious award by TASH,” said Stack. “The work we do every day has a direct impact on a person’s life. I’m proud to partner with advocates from across the country so that people with disabilities can live and work in the community.”

Stack will receive the award at the Annual TASH Conference in Baltimore on December 2, 2023.