Parenting can be really tough and sometimes families could use a little extra help. Many people don’t realize the resources available right here in Pierce County through University of Wisconsin Madison – Division of Extension. That’s where Hannah White-McGinn comes in.

White-McGinn is the human development and relationships educator in Pierce County for the Division of Extension, a position she has held for one year on Sept. 19.

“I’m primarily a family educator and support local family-serving organizations,” White-McGinn said. “My specialty is parenting classes, especially for parents with kids with disabilities.”

She can run classes via Zoom or in-person one-on-one with parents. She also works with Madison-based state teams online in initiatives such as Focus on Fathers, which encourages father involvement in a child’s life even if they don’t have custody. The program is meant to break down the stigma of single fathers.

“I also partner with Pierce County Public Health, Human Services, Family Resource Center and Birth-3,” White-McGinn said. “We do programming with families or we build programming.”

Currently, she has several projects in the works that she’s excited about. For example, she is partnering with the county’s human services department on Parent Cafes, a time where parents in recovery can meet for a time of conversation, healing and personal growth. Recovery could mean recovering from anything: Substance abuse, loss of family, Covid. The cafés are parent-run and held every third Wednesday of the month at St. Bridget’s in River Falls.

“I sit as a liaison on the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council here in town, listening and supporting,” White-McGinn said. “A big focus and initiative of theirs is helping people struggling with recovery or mental health.”

The Parent Café provides dinner, childcare and gas cards to those in need. White-McGinn said the program has been growing and includes people from St. Croix and Polk counties.

She is also pleased with the Dream Up grant recently received by United Way, which will help the community find innovative ways to support childcare providers, families and the local economy. In this area alone, there is a deficit of about 700 childcare slots. White-McGinn is in the process of developing a survey for Pierce County businesses to see how the lack of childcare is impacting employers and employees.

“It took a bit of time and now we’re waiting to hear when we’re ready to circulate it,” White-McGinn said. “The childcare crisis is such an important thing to focus on and it’s nearly at every level. You can talk to every family and they’re feeling it.”

She also secured a spot for Pierce County in a focus group surveying childcare providers in the area.

White-McGinn is proud of a quarterly newsletter she sends out called “Round Robin,” which focuses on supporting families in the St. Croix River Valley. It provides tips on services and support available to families, plus interesting articles. It’s available in print form or by email. People can sign up for it by going to the Pierce County Extension website.

“We have so many people who want to give back and want to support others,” White-McGinn said. “There’s no real centralized hub for services. People can take advantage of it.”

White McGinn is also passionate about a partnership with the Pierce County Jail called Making Reading Memories. Twice a month, incarcerated parents can record reading a book to their kids. It allows them to learn active, engaging reading skills and promotes literacy and family bonds.

“It’s going amazingly well, but it can be very hard if they just received sentencing or if their hearing was postponed,” White-McGinn said. “The idea of them not being able to see their kids can be really hard, so it’s really emotionally driven. Very impactful. It’s brand new, it just started last month. Their kids miss them just like they miss anybody else. The kids shouldn’t be penalized for what their parents are going through. The parents still want to be parents too.”

The path to here

White-McGinn likes that her position allows her to tailor programming to county residents’ needs. She felt motivated to apply for the job one year ago because not only is her extended family from Ellsworth, but she enjoys using her experience to help others.

She graduated from UW-River Falls with a Bachelor of Science in Liberal Arts with an emphasis in sculpture and glass blowing and a minor in psychology. She pursued the arts because she’s always had a passion for them and felt college was the time to investigate those passions.

Her first job out of college was as a paraprofessional in a federal setting for special needs students who weren’t able to be in a regular school setting. She worked primarily with behavioral students for a year before she jumped into teaching. She earned her licensure in autism and emotional behavioral disorders.

“I’m dyslexic myself and to see the strength of the kids who have been through a lot more than I have is incredibly amazing,” she said. “After that I moved to helping kids who are severely multiply impaired.”

That meant many of her students required feeding tubes or wheelchairs. When the pandemic hit, those children had to use homebound services, which led to her professionally blowing glass for about a year. She then earned a masters in special education and taught for eight years in the Twin Cities before coming to Pierce County.

She made the right career choice, as she loves seeing the impact she has when working with parents.

“When you sit down and get to see the needs of someone and how you can support them and how grateful they are just to be heard as an individual,” she said. “I wanted to help more broadly than just in the classroom. Kids are only with you for eight hours and then they go home. I like working directly with the parents and seeing that direct impact that we make.”

New parenting classes are coming up this fall. Visit https://pierce.extension.wisc.edu/family-living/ to learn more or email White-McGinn at hannah.whitemcginn@wisc.edu