Announcing the Casework Navigator Program’s Next Chapter: The Constituent Service Institute
POPVOX Foundation is proud to announce that its Casework Navigator program is spinning off into a standalone organization, the Constituent Service Institute, led by longtime POPVOX Foundation staff member, Anne Meeker. This new organization builds directly on the work POPVOX Foundation and its partners and collaborators have developed through the Casework Navigator program, and meets a clear and consistent demand signal from caseworkers, institutional staff, and civil society collaborators for dedicated resources, research, and education on this critical legislative function.
The Casework Navigator program grew from POPVOX Foundation's focus on helping legislatures navigate the pacing problem — the growing gap between the speed of change in society and the capacity of legislative institutions to keep up.
Casework sits at the center of two dimensions of that challenge. The first is the public-facing pacing problem: how legislatures meet constituent expectations and rebuild public trust. The second is the interbranch pacing problem: how legislatures learn from constituents and translate what they hear into implementable, iterative policy in partnership with their Executive branch counterparts. Caseworkers are on the front lines of both.
Over the life of the program at POPVOX Foundation, the Casework Navigator team has:
Hosted 30 webinars for caseworkers on topics ranging from mental health and resilience to anticipating HR1 casework to AI tools, welcoming hundreds of caseworkers from both chambers and both sides of the aisle to candid, collaborative conversations.
Published 16 template manual chapters on managing great casework, which have been adapted for state legislative offices and translated into Portuguese for international lawmakers.
Published 60+ issues of the Casework Navigator newsletter — a first-of-its-kind resource gathering agency updates and resources specifically for caseworkers — averaging 1,400 views and 700 opens per issue.
Published flagship research reports on the state of casework, including on casework data, disaster casework, Afghanistan casework, casework in multi-member districts, and AI tools for casework.
Ran the first casework training for journalists, teaching reporters across the country about casework and how to cover it as part of evaluating Member performance.
Spearheaded advocacy for institutional projects including the CaseCompass pilot, first proposed in testimony to the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress in 2021 and now nearly at the finish line.
Advocated for a GAO study into agency responsiveness to caseworkers, now under way.
The Casework Navigator program, by the numbers
Hundreds of caseworkers, both chambers, both sides of the aisle.
Adapted for state legislatures, translated into Portuguese.
A first-of-its-kind resource for caseworkers.
Research, training and advocacy
Flagship research reports on the state of casework
Casework data · disaster casework · Afghanistan casework · multi-member districts · AI tools
The first casework training for journalists
Teaching reporters how to cover casework as part of evaluating Member performance.
Advocacy for the CaseCompass pilot
First proposed in 2021 testimony to the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress. Now nearly at the finish line.
A GAO study into agency responsiveness to caseworkers
Now under way.
The program's resources are widely used across offices in the House and Senate, and are highlighted as resources for staff by the Congressional Research Service and the Senate Employee Assistance Program. The team has presented on casework widely, including at the Congressional Hackathon, the Senate EAP Casework Forum and Casework Managers' Forum, for the Maryland and Illinois delegations, and for the Levin Center for Oversight; and the work has been covered on the Highway to Hill podcast, the Lawfare podcast, Federal Drive with Terry Gerton, the Politics in Question podcast, the Gov Navigators podcast, Roll Call, and CNBC, among others.
The Constituent Service Institute will be led by Anne Meeker, who leaves POPVOX Foundation to launch it. Anne has been a member of the Foundation's founding team, serving as Director of Strategic Initiatives, Deputy Director, and Managing Director before transitioning to Senior Advisor earlier this year. Beyond the Casework Navigator program, she has led multiple flagship projects for POPVOX Foundation, including Internapalooza, CapitolStrong, Departure Dialogues, support for Congressional transparency and engagement in legislative earmarks, and the Future of Constituent Engagement initiative, and she continues to write the Voice/Mail newsletter. The Foundation is grateful for her work and wishes her every success in this next chapter.
