By Karen Smith, SVP, Chief Advocacy Officer

Last month, I shared that advocacy has no off-season. This September, a small group of Montana credit union leaders will put that philosophy into practice as we head to Washington, D.C., for America’s Credit Unions’ Congressional Caucus and our annual Hike the Hill.

This year, our Montana delegation will be small — ten of us. But the number of people making the trip doesn’t define the strength of our voice.

When we walk into congressional offices, we aren’t there simply representing ourselves or our individual credit unions. We’re representing Montana’s credit union movement and the members and communities our credit unions serve across the state.

That matters because decisions made in Washington have very real impacts back home. Whether the conversation is about preserving the credit union tax status, reducing unnecessary regulatory burden, protecting consumers from fraud, strengthening data security, or ensuring credit unions can continue to innovate and compete, federal policy ultimately affects our ability to serve members.

Our job is to help connect those policy discussions to what is actually happening in Montana.

We can talk about what it means to serve a rural community where access to financial services may be limited. We can share how regulatory requirements affect a small credit union differently than a billion-dollar financial institution. We can tell stories about the families, farmers, small businesses, and communities our credit unions support every day.

Just as importantly, Hike the Hill is about relationships.

A meeting in Washington may last only 20 or 30 minutes, but the relationship behind it is built over years. Showing up consistently allows us to listen, answer questions, share our perspective, and become a trusted resource when an issue affecting credit unions comes across a policymaker’s desk.

That’s the same approach we take here at home. From our lawmaker lunches across Montana this spring to meetings on Capitol Hill this fall, the geography may change, but the purpose doesn’t: build relationships, share our story, and protect the credit union difference.

So, yes, ten of us will make the trip to Washington this year. But we won’t be going alone.

We’ll carry with us the experiences, challenges, successes, and stories of Montana’s credit unions — and the responsibility to make sure Montana has a voice in the conversations shaping the future of our movement.

Because sometimes advocacy is simply about showing up. And when Montana’s credit unions show up, we make sure our voice is heard. Listen to a podcast with Steve Grooms about how showing up doesn’t have to mean hopping onto a plane.