Thomas Reinke

Thomas Reinke is a co-founder of the New Avenue Foundation. Tom and his wife Mary live in Wallingford, Delaware County and have two children Mary Beth, 23 and Alex, 21. Mary Beth has a seizure disorder, mental retardation, and gross and fine motor deficits, resulting from a brain injury at birth.

Tom and Mary have a long history of involvement in improving services and expanding activities for people with developmental disabilities. As a volunteer Mary was a leader in establishing and operating the first extended school year program at the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District.

For many years Tom was a certified Special Olympics soccer coach, leading a program for boys and girls with more significant disabilities who could not engage in competitive games. He also established and ran a program at the Community YMCA of Eastern Delaware County that focused on social skills for teenagers. He is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Arc of Delaware County and the Arc Community Trust, which administers trusts for people with developmental disabilities. He is currently the Treasurer of the Livengrin Foundation, a substance abuse treatment facility in Bucks County. In addition, Tom is a member of extended team of participants in the Office of Developmental Programs’ Futures Planning process which is developing long term goals for Medicaid waiver programs.

Tom has a bachelor’s degree in social work from the University of Kansas and a master’s degree in health services administration from the University of Wisconsin. Early in his career he worked as a social worker in rural Wisconsin. He is currently a healthcare consultant and a contributing editor to a medical publisher. He is in the process of limiting his professional responsibilities to devote more time to improving services for people with developmental disabilities.

In addition to being a co-founder of the New Avenue Foundation and a primary financial sponsor, Tom carries the title of director of housing programs. He is working to form groups of families that are interested in developing alternatives to the standard forms of agency run group homes.