You don’t just wake up one day and decide that you are going to be passionate about something new. Finding a passion takes work, it takes trial and error, and sometimes it takes pure luck. I found my passion in political advocacy for credit unions through a little bit of all three. Because of my passion for political advocacy and my opportunity to pursue it at work, I am a more engaged team member, more vested in the outcomes of my members’ financial lives, and more involved with my team. Because of my passion, I am producing a greater return for my credit union in all facets of my job – all of this coming at a minimal cost.What does internal grassroots advocacy mean? To me it means that as a team we are equipped to speak on behalf of our member owners. We are able and willing to address with our legislators the issues that impact our member-owned financial cooperatives. Seems simple enough, right?So what’s the benefit of having an internal grassroots advocacy program? A major benefit, of course, is helping to steer our legislators toward credit union-friendly outcomes. At this point I know what you are thinking: I’ve heard this before – and I’m sure you have. We are always looking for ways to increase our voices with legislators and regulators. There’s nothing new here. continue reading » 27SHARESShareShareSharePrintMailGooglePinterestDiggRedditStumbleuponDeliciousBufferTumblr read more

Th University of  Wisconsin men’s hockey team (14-13-4, 8-9-3 Big Ten) will take on longtime rival University of Minnesota (16-13-1, 7-10-1 Big Ten) this weekend in Madison with games on Friday and Saturday night.Wisconsin and Minnesota are both in the latter half of the top 20 in the USCHO standings, ranked No. 17 and No. 12 respectively.  With 16 teams making the Frozen Four and only four games left in the regular season, the Badgers will need to have an impressive run to earn a spot in the tournament.The Badgers have been playing solidly of late, riding the momentum from three weeks ago when they upset No. 1 Notre Dame at a neutral site in Chicago. Since that game, Wisconsin’s only loss has been when they split their last series against University of Michigan.Men’s Hockey: Badgers take on Wolverines, enter home stretch of regular seasonThe Wisconsin Men’s Hockey Team enters February riding a three-game winning streak and preparing to face a critical point in Read…Wisconsin scores slightly more than Minnesota at 3.26 goals per game to the Gophers 3.21. Luke Kunin leads the Badgers in this category with 12 goals on the year whereas Rem Pitlick is the primary option for Minnesota with nine goals.Despite comparable offensive output, Minnesota’s defense has been significantly better, averaging almost half a point less per game at 2.47 goals to Wisconsin’s 2.9 goals.Wisconsin will be without their head coach, Tony Granato, who is off in South Korea leading the charge for the United States Olympic Team.First puck drop will be in the Kohl Center at 8 p.m. Friday night and the next game Saturday at 8 p.m. with coverage of both available on BTN Plus. read more