Our History
For more than five decades, Glove House, Inc. has provided community-based services providing hope and help to struggling youth and their families. Glove House is a private, not-for-profit youth advocacy organization designed to support and facilitate the development and operation of community-based prevention, mental health and educational support services, foster care services, and residential services for youth and families in need. Glove House has established a reputation in the Finger Lakes and Southern Tier regions of New York for creating innovative programs which utilize community resources and contain costs. The agency has been successful because it is flexible and adaptable to the needs of the youth and the community.
Norman “Chuck” Jennings was a heavy weight professional boxer in the 1940’s and 1950’s from Elmira NY. After a successful boxing career Mr. Jennings dedicated his life to making a difference in the lives of youth in need. Chuck served on the board of many organizations to improve the quality of life for youth in the Elmira community. Chuck began to recognize that there were young people who had dropped out of school, had no place to call home, had few life skills, and lacked a plan for a sustainable future. In October of 1968 Chuck Jennings founded Glove House and began to raise funds to open their first group home located at 510 W. Church Street, Elmira NY, which Glove House still owns and has transformed into our historic headquarters and a space for community events. On April 6, 1970 Chuck's dream became a reality when Glove House opened its doors to seven teenage boys in their first “working group home for teenage boys.”
