Community Builder Award

Now Accepting Applications!

The ANCOR Foundation is now accepting applications for its 2026 Community Builder Award, and the recipient of the award will be honored at ANCOR Connect ’26 in Boston.

Learn More & Apply by November 7

About the Community Builder Award

The ANCOR Foundation’s Community Builder Award honors people, communities and organizations that make inclusion their mission. These partners work to ensure people with disabilities can take part and be valued in every part of community life. Awardees bring new ideas and creative approaches that inspire others to follow their lead.

Meet Our Recent Honorees

The ANCOR Foundation honored New York State Industries for the Disabled (NYSID) with the 2025 Community Builder Award for its bold leadership in creating inclusive employment opportunities. NYSID not only helps thousands of New Yorkers with disabilities and veterans secure meaningful work—with more than 4,700 workers earning $82.7 million in wages in 2024—but also drives statewide policy change to make employment more accessible and equitable. From commissioning groundbreaking research on the benefits cliff to championing the Preferred Source Modernization Act, NYSID has expanded opportunities for people with disabilities to thrive in the workforce and in their communities. NYSID’s advocacy, generosity and commitment to inclusion make it a true partner in building stronger, more equitable communities across New York.

Learn more about NYSID’s vibrant mission by watching the video below.

2024 Community Builder Award

The ANCOR Foundation honored Shri Studio, Shri Service Corps and Shri Bark with the 2024 Community Builder Award for the company’s bold vision of inclusion. Led by founder Alison Bologna, Shri has transformed a historic mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, into a thriving hub of community life—with yoga, housing, art and food access all under one roof. Through adaptive yoga, Shri has opened doors for people with intellectual, developmental and physical disabilities to connect, strengthen and thrive alongside neighbors of all backgrounds. Shri Service Corps brings these programs into schools, shelters, hospitals and recovery centers, reaching thousands each year. And Shri Bark, a social enterprise snack company, helps fund this mission while nourishing local communities. Together, these efforts show what’s possible when creativity, compassion and inclusion come together—and why Shri is a true community builder.

See the full list of our previous award winners to understand the kind of leaders recognized with this honor.

Meet Our Honorees

Community Builder Award Overview

Established in 2004, the Community Builder Award recognizes outstanding new initiatives that create inclusive opportunities for people with disabilities to live full, meaningful lives as valued community members.

Qualifying initiatives should actively seek to highlight the contributions of individuals or groups that lack visibility or are systemically overlooked. This award must recognize a community partner; provider organizations may not nominate themselves or their own work.

To be considered for the Community Builder Award, an application must show:

Mission and value alignment with the ANCOR Foundation

• The nominee is committed to developing I/DD partnerships.
• The initiative is person-centered.
• The initiative encourages active and meaningful community engagement

A culture of inclusivity and belonging

• Individuals feel comfortable sharing their ideas and concerns with transparency and confidence.
• Individuals involved feel valued, respected, accepted, and appreciated for their unique characteristics.
• Individuals are treated with and treat others with dignity and respect.
• The initiative demonstrates a use of inclusive language practices.
• The initiative is supported by individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds.

How the initiative solves a problem or creates a unique benefit

• The initiative encourages a culture of curiosity.
• The initiative provides a new solution to a current problem.

How the initiative can be replicated in other communities

• The initiative’s benefits and uniqueness are easily explained.
• Future community builders can easily engage in the initiative’s opportunities and benefits with little risk or effort.

This award celebrates the power of partnership, not provider excellence. Any individual, group or organization (such as a town, a state, a civic or religious organization, an employer, a park, a recreational program, etc.) whose commitment and creativity build sustained communities that fully include and value people with intellectual and developmental disabilities is eligible to be considered for the Community Builder Award. I/DD Service Providers, such as those that comprise ANCOR’s membership, are not eligible for this award.

Nominations typically open in the fall and award recipients are recognized at ANCOR Connect each spring.

Questions?

If you have questions about the Community Builder Award, please email Sasha Sencer, ANCOR’s Director of Education.