Thomas Mantore, M.Ed.

As an undergraduate, Tom studied at The University of South Carolina and Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Philosophy.

Tom was hired by The IMPACT Project, Inc., in 2000 as an entry level Case Manager. He was eventually promoted to Senior Case Manager and shortly thereafter he was chosen to run IMPACT’s therapeutic group interventions focusing on Moral Development and Social Skills Training for adolescent offenders. During this time, Tom had simultaneously attended graduate school at Kutztown University where he earned his Master of Education degree in 2006 with a concentration in Secondary School Counseling.

In 2007, Tom added The Collegiate Enrichment Program to his portfolio. This program partners with The Lehigh County Juvenile Probation Department in order to provide at-risk youth who have been adjudicated delinquent with volunteer college students who serve as mentors to them. The combination of pro-social activities and exposure to actual local college campuses is meant to model positive behavioral change while also encouraging further exploration of post-secondary pursuits for the at-risk youth. This is a program Tom continues to supervise to date.

In subsequent years, Tom was promoted to Educational Specialist, Placement Specialist and ultimately to his current position of Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer. He has served as the co-chair of the Independent Living workgroup for The Pennsylvania Council of Children, Youth and Family Services, he has served as a consultant on the statewide Rate Methodology Task Force workgroup, he has provided training for The Juvenile Detention Centers and Alternative Programs Annual Conference as well as for IMPACT’s foster parents.

In 2015, Tom returned to graduate school at Kutztown University and completed a practicum at Southern Lehigh Intermediate School adding PA Department of Education elementary and middle school certifications in school counseling to his repertoire of skills.

In over two decades of service, he has had a hand in virtually every aspect of the agency’s success. While he has steadily ascended from an entry level worker to an administrative role, his strength and passion continues to lie in direct service to the children with whom the agency focuses on. Tom also excels at maintaining outstanding relationships with the many counties and their corresponding executives with whom IMPACT contracts. As the primary contact point for all of its contracted partners, Tom is wholly responsible for conducting thorough assessments of all of IMPACT’s incoming clients. He travels the better part of Pennsylvania interviewing children in psychiatric hospitals, juvenile detention centers, residential treatment facilities, group homes and shelters. The combination of a personal interview with the children and a series of psychological tests and measures administered during the interview helps Tom ensure that the children IMPACT admits are not only appropriate for community-based treatment, but that they are given optimal conditions in which to succeed once they are placed.

In addition to admissions, Tom also supervises the clinical department.  Lastly, Tom supervises and continues to be an active participant in the recruitment, training and retention process of all prospective/new foster families.