Today we’d like to introduce you to Shannon Glenn.
Hi Shannon, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Growing up, I had always been someone who was highly engaged and involved in the community. From school clubs – to volunteering to sports – I always had something going on. When I finished Cosmetology school in 2008, I quickly realized that I wanted to return to school and I found myself at Anoka Ramsey Community College in Coon Rapids. Again, I found myself emerging with school clubs and activities and found myself getting involved in Student Senate. One day, I was talking to one of my student senators about possibly moving to Minneapolis and he mentioned that I should look at getting a dog – and he knew someone that volunteered with Save A Bull Rescue. After going to my first rescue event, I was hooked. I was surrounded by amazing volunteers and these giant blocky-headed pups. Needless to say, I found myself getting involved with the rescue and quickly learned about the discrimination that dogs and their owners can face.
I eventually learned about a bumper sticker campaign called “My Pit Bull is Family” and decided to hop on and start volunteering with them to send out bumper stickers across the world to help remove the stigmas that “Pit Bull” type dogs and their owners faced. At the time, I had my own “Pit Bull” type dog – Wilbur and was starting the Master’s of Advocacy and Political Leadership program at Metro State where I decided to base my degree on ending Breed Restrictions in Housing and Insurance.
To this day – I still credit that student senator at Anoka Ramsey Community College for changing the course of my career.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I was a full-time volunteer-based Executive Director for 8 years in addition to working multiple jobs to make ends meet. It was definitely a struggle managing the only pet-friendly homeless shelter in the state while trying to keep an organization afloat with no staff.
We continue to be challenged with funding struggles because we do not intake animals – we’re not a rescue. Our main focus is to keep pets at home with their people which is just as if not more important. We have only one staff person, me, and an amazing crew of volunteers that keep our programs running smoothly – that being said we’re always looking for great folks to add to our team!
In terms of struggles with legislation efforts, we work on legislation throughout the county to remove breed and size restrictions in insurance and renter pet policies. We continue to advocate that all dogs are individuals and they should be treated as such. We also do our best to bring awareness to the correlation between breed restrictions and the roots they have in racism and classism. We’ll be working on legislation here in MN, as we do every year, in the 2023 legislative session to remove breed restrictions in Homeowner’s insurance and to increase pet friendly policies in publicly funded housing programs.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’ve always been an advocate of sorts. The majority of my professional career has been in human services, specifically working with single adults experiencing homelessness throughout the Twin Cities area. I’ve always loved working with people and connecting them with resources in the community.
I am most proud of the work I’ve done around humans experiencing homelessness and pets. For two shelter seasons, I had the opportunity to manage the only pet-friendly single adult homeless shelter in the state of MN. I learned a lot about myself and how to best work with individuals experiencing a crisis – including their pets.
My background continues to come in handy as we work towards ending breed restrictions in rental housing and insurance policies – and through the creation of our North Minneapolis Pet Resource Center. At NMPRC, we pride ourselves on meeting people where they’re at – following a harm-reduction mindset, if you will. We know that pets are extremely important to the well-being of humans – and we strive to protect the human-animal bond.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Ooof – that is a tough one.
One memory that stands out is when my mom picked me up from volleyball practice in 5th grade to surprise me with tickets to the Backstreet Boys Concert. I remember being so excited on the car ride to San Antonio (I lived in Austin TX at the time) and then screaming my little heart out when they performed.
Contact Info:
- Website: Mypitbullisfamily.org
- Instagram: instagram.com/mypitbullisfamily
- Facebook: facebook.com/mypitbullisfamily | facebook.com/nmprc
