20 Hoosier Banker December 2014 GR SPOTLIGHT One of the most important functions of the IBA Government Relations Team is to serve as a source of information and an open line of communication between elected officials and the bankers that we serve. However, circumstances arise when we simply need your help. That is when we utilize our Association’s most important source of information: the IBA-member bankers who live and work the industry every day. Many do answer our call, sending a wave of grassroots advocacy messages into legislative offices to help solidify our industry’s support or concern on a legislative issue. From time to time, the IBA government relations team will create grassroots advocacy campaigns, asking members to contact their legislators on a particular subject. It is vital that members of the Indiana banking community, who know the business best, participate and make their voices heard. Over the past summer, IBA has evaluated the effectiveness of our grassroots approach and the tools that we have available for our membership to use. After viewing various options, we chose to adopt VoterVoice for our grassroots advocacy needs. We are excited to begin this partnership, and we hope that you and your bank will utilize the service. Through VoterVoice, users will be able to access an easy-to-use grassroots action center directly from the IBA website at indianabankers. org. This action center will automatically match and connect members with their state and federal elected officials, enabling them to send messages quickly and easily. There are new features that can be used via the grassroots action center. First, the Quick Sign Up section allows anyone to join and stay informed about current and future action alerts. Action alerts and petitions that are still active will remain in the grassroots action center. However, users who sign up will receive urgent alert communications, allowing them to take action instantly. We ask all banks to encourage their employees to sign up and join in the grassroots effort. Each user will have the option to sign up using their home address and a business address. With this dual signup system, people who live in one district but work in another will be able to contact all applicable legislators from both districts. Please note that current bank presidents and chief executive officers, as well as current IBA Insighter subscribers, have already been signed up automatically into VoterVoice. Second, for any users who may be unsure of their elected officials, VoterVoice will match individuals to their state and federal elected officials. This will enable them to VoterVoice: Grassroots Advocacy Is Just a Click Away About the Author Joshua A. Myers is government relations & communications office manager of the Indiana Bankers Association. He joined the IBA in 2009 to provide administrative support to the government relations team. During the legislative session, he tracks committee meetings, floor sessions, hearings and other industry-related events. Myers additionally assists with communications functions, including distribution of IBA Insighter, IBA E-News and news releases; news items in Hoosier Banker magazine; social media outreach; legislative action alerts to IBA bank members; and IBA website career center job postings. Before joining IBA, he served twice as a majority intern in the Indiana State Senate, as a legislative intern for Bose Public Affairs Group and as a field manager with the House Republican Campaign Committee. Myers earned a bachelor’s degree from Purdue University.
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