Farris Glover has given many Minnesotans a home at My Home Inc.
“All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and repairs the evil,” Sophocles, a renowned Greek playwright, said. “The only crime is pride.” In some ways, Farris Glover is the living embodiment of this quote. Born in Chicago and raised on its West Side, Glover was frequently in trouble during his adolescence and early adulthood.
“I was never involved in gangs, but I sold drugs and used drugs and committed crimes,” Glover said. “I’m blessed that I never landed in prison.”
Near a personal low point, Glover’s friend told him that she planned to attend Minneapolis College to obtain her nursing degree. Glover was inspired by her ambition and also decided to enroll in the two-year public college in Minnesota’s most populous city. However, shortly thereafter, Glover recognized that nursing was not the career he wanted. So, he pivoted and began studying to become a community counselor.
“Initially, I went to college to study nursing,” Glover said. “But I struggled to do the math and considered dropping out. Fortunately, I met my first mentor, Louis Zachary, at Minneapolis College and he encouraged me to pursue something that I was familiar with. I thought about it and knew that working in drug addiction was a natural fit.”
With a clear vision thanks to Zachary’s advice, Glover ultimately graduated from Saint Paul, Minnesota-based Metropolitan State University with a bachelor’s degree in counseling, psychology, and business management. In March 1995, Glover realized his professional dream when he founded My Home Inc., a treatment facility designed to help African-Americans make a successful transition to mainstream society. Glover discussed his organization’s mission and detailed its programs.
“Our mission is to assist African-Americans and other underserved communities to develop a renewed sense of pride in their cultural and traditional histories by utilizing a cognitive-behavioral approach,” Glover said.
“Almost all of our clients have been in either the criminal justice system or child protection system. Both of these systems have, at times, unjustly devastated the African-American community. The programs we offer here aim to reunite and empower these individuals. Our programs, and the staff who run these programs, try to make our clients focus on the poor choices they have made, rather than focusing on their substance abuse problems. Our programs also keep clients focused on making lifestyle and attitude changes. As they do that, their chronic chemical use gradually turns into sporadic relapse and finally lasting sobriety.”
Essentially, perhaps far more important than anything else, My Home Inc. gives clients hope for a better future. Glover believes that his staff can communicate effectively with clients because of their similar past experiences.
“Our staff is comprised of African-Americans and many of them have fought the same battles as the clients they meet with,” Glover said. “This empowers our staff and clients because a level of trust has already been built that can’t be measured.”
Over the past quarter-century, Glover has used multiple resources to connect with clients and provide them with assistance. He has also forged key partnerships to further strengthen his facility’s mission, address the needs of clients, and improve their quality of care. Of particular note, for the first 13 years of its existence, My Home Inc. had the biggest contract with the Minnesota Department of Corrections to help employ, motivate, and assist former inmates.
“Our community outreach consists of radio, social media, the courts, and probation,” Glover said.
“We are constantly told by our clients that they heard about this program from other inmates or through their family’s church. As for establishing long-term relationships with our clients, they are told when they are admitted into this program that, once they complete it, they have earned their seat and are always welcome to come and sit whenever they need to. My Home Inc. also has long-standing community relationships with the St. Paul Chapter of the NAACP and Urban League. They’ve been very receptive to establishing a relationship with a program that works with African-Americans who are involved in the criminal justice and child protection systems.”
For its contributions to residents of the Land of 10,000 Lakes, Help.org placed My Home Inc. on its list of Best Drug and Alcohol Rehab and Treatment Centers in Minneapolis for 2020. In addition to websites that review drug and alcohol treatment centers, it is also evident that Minnesotans appreciate My Home Inc. and its vast array of services. For example, on May 26, one day after George Floyd was killed while in police custody, violent confrontations erupted between authorities and protestors. Although looting and destruction of property have been widespread across the Twin Cities, My Home Inc. remains undamaged by the ongoing civil unrest.
“I think that our facility escaped the property damage that hurt many other local businesses because the black community respects the work and advocacy that we offer to the community,” Glover surmised. “Actually, that’s even what I told police when the chaos was at its peak.”
Glover, who noted that his facility accepts all different types of health insurance plans and offers self-pay options, is proud of his many achievements. Nevertheless, he is especially proud of the work that his facility has done to destigmatize those who have been convicted of a crime.
“I believe that one of the most positive things I have witnessed over the years working in this field is that the stigma of being incarcerated is not looked down upon by employers and the community as much as it was when I opened My Home Inc. in 1995,” Glover said.
The Twin Cities are roughly 410 miles northwest of Chicago. Still, considering Farris Glover’s remarkable journey since departing the Windy City, the distance between the metropolises seems significantly farther than that.
-Colin Linneweber
