For over twenty-five years Toni Reinis has advocated on behalf of homeless people. In 1982, she helped to create the SOVA food pantry, which provides groceries to thousands of homeless people each month.  This enabled her to learn first hand about the causes of homelessness.  Toni went on to become the Southern California Director of the California Homeless and Housing Coalition, where she advocated for housing legislation and public policies regarding homeless services.

In 1989, while still at the Coalition, Toni began working with the National Homeless Coalition and the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty in investigating a law that required underused and underutilized federal buildings to be made available to homeless programs. It was at this time that Toni met John Keaveney, a formerly homeless veteran who shared a vision of rehabilitating homeless veterans and returning them to jobs, family and housing.  Toni and John created New Directions in 1992, beginning with a rented house in Mar Vista.   Together they advocated with Senator Alan Cranston, Representative Henry Waxman and Representative Maxine Waters to enact legislation that enabled New Directions to obtain a 50-year lease for a vacant building on the West Los Angeles VA grounds.

Toni is presently the Executive Director of New Directions, Inc., a comprehensive and proven life-saving program that provides transitional housing, long-term treatment, job training and placement and peer support to veterans.  The agency maintains over 230 beds in five locations and offers remedial education, vocational training, legal and financial assistance and an experienced team of case managers and clinicians.  Recently, Toni was awarded “Social Entrepreneur of the Year” by Loyola Marymount Hilton School of Management, and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger named New Directions “Employer of the Year” in 2005.   In 2007, Toni was honored by the Westside Woman’s Network, and was named an “Outstanding Woman Leader” by Santa Monica’s Commission on Women.  Toni has testified in Congressional Committees and at the Interagency Council on Homelessness in Washington. 

Recently, New Directions has partnered with A Community of Friends to obtain a 75-year lease on two vacant buildings at the Sepulveda Veterans Administration.  These structures will be converted into 147 units of permanent supportive housing for disabled veterans.  New Directions has recently established a new program for soldiers and marines returning from Iraq and Afghanistan that includes outreach, residential treatment and transitional housing. The agency anticipates that a growing number of returning veterans will utilize New Directions’ services over the next few years.

Toni Reinis holds a B.A. in Nonprofit Management from Antioch University.  She and her husband Mitchell have been married for 34 years, and together they have four children and seven grandchildren.