Casework Resources

A manual for Congressional caseworkers with a directory of government entities that handle consumer protection complaints.

When a Congressional seat becomes vacant, due to a Member leaving office or passing away, one of the most complex but important elements of a transition is handing off casework.

A productive working relationship with the Member's communications team can help act as a force multiplier for a casework team’s efforts.

Analyzing the casework process from a constituent’s perspective can be a helpful tool for casework teams to evaluate their operations.

Incorporating data into casework strategy can offer valuable insights for optimizing efforts, addressing emotional demands, and fostering collaboration among team members.

An introduction to the legislative toolkit available to Congressional offices and tips for caseworkers to build relationships with legislative counterparts, and how casework expertise can contribute to a team’s legislative work.

By better understanding what the US government typically does in emergency situations, casework teams can rapidly respond to urgent constituent inquiries.

Members of Congress and casework teams have an important ethical obligation to handle constituent data responsibly.

Closing a case is the last opportunity to make a good impression with the constituent.

Building professional working relationships with agency liaison staff is critical to a casework team’s success.

Designing a thoughtful team structure and standard operating procedures is crucial for supporting both constituents and caseworkers.

A solid, welcoming intake process can make the rest of a case easier by building trust with the constituent.

In its simplest form, casework is when Members of Congress and their staff work on behalf of constituents to resolve difficulties with federal agencies.

The redistricting process creates a complicated set of decisions and operations questions related to transferring open cases to constituents’ new representatives.

As the “front door for Congress,” district staff have the challenge of designing and managing an office space where everyone—staff, constituents, interns, and visitors—can feel safe and welcome.

For Congressional staff, especially district staff, it can be difficult to understand the rules around your employment in Congress, and the support offices and institutions available.

Join a listening session with former USCIS leadership to reimagine how the agency works in practice. Immigration caseworkers are invited to share frontline insights on backlogs, delays, and system breakdowns — informing pragmatic, cross-partisan reforms to improve efficiency, fairness, and processing timelines across USCIS.

Congressional caseworkers develop highly transferable skills — navigating federal agencies, managing complex caseloads, advocating for people in crisis, and collaborating across institutions — that can open pathways to senior roles in Congress, federal agencies, health care, policy organizations, social services, and beyond.

Join us for a discussion with Dave Rapallo, former Staff Director of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and current Federal Legislation Clinic Director at Georgetown, for a discussion of how oversight powers have evolved, practical strategies for dealing with unresponsive agencies, and how to work with committee staff.

This workshop — hosted in partnership with the House Digital Services — will dive into standards and practices for case notes and tags, sustainable management practices for helping your team keep good notes, and making the most of the data from well-kept notes

In this webinar, we’ll hear from former CFPB and FTC CTO Erie Meyer about how these agencies handle consumer complaints, and what Congressional offices should know about the landscape of government resources for consumer protection.

Casework teams have rich insight into program implementation (including direct agency contacts) that can be an important source of information for legislation and oversight, and legislative teams can help contextualize and address the systemic challenges that bog down casework teams.

In this nonpartisan webinar, we will discuss the changes to SNAP included in the current reconciliation package, and other developments happening with USDA and state-level SNAP programs to anticipate future trends in SNAP-related casework.

In this nonpartisan webinar, we will discuss the current landscape of proposed and implemented changes to FEMA and other federal disaster agencies, equipping caseworkers with the knowledge they need to navigate the evolving system of federal disaster aid and effectively assist constituents in the future.

AILA attorneys discuss processes and best practices for family reunification petitions, refugee/asylum cases, and humanitarian programs. This session covers common challenges in family-based immigration casework and effective strategies for agency communication.

This session will cover an overview of employment-based immigration inquiries from AILA experts, including business visa cases, work authorization issues, and employer-sponsored immigration, with tips for successful agency communication and identifying resources.

Casework teams rely on Congressional liaisons at Federal agencies to help solve problems for constituents — but working as a Congressional liaison comes with its own challenges.

In this Casework Navigator webinar with National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives CEO David Camp, we talk about the basics of Social Security casework.

One of the hardest things about getting up to speed as a new caseworker is learning the different contacts and practices for each individual agency in responding to casework requests

Recently-developed, Congress-approved generative AI tools can streamline Congressional casework processes, making them more efficient and accessible.

With recent changes to House Ethics rules allowing for more cohosted constituent service events, many casework teams are exploring creative strategies to reach constituents and spread the word about their services. But do these work?

Finding productive ways to coordinate with your state and local counterparts is not only important for handing cases off between jurisdictions, but can also help both sides more efficiently balance casework and outreach.

Direct constituent service has been part of Congressional responsibility since the nation’s founding, but casework has looked very different through the last two hundred years.

“Administrative burden” describes the obstacles constituents face in accessing benefits that do not reflect their legal eligibility—it also happens to describe a significant proportion of reasons constituents seek casework help from their Members of Congress.

Every government program starts with good intentions—it’s how they’re carried out that can make them fail in big ways or in small ways that add up.

One of the most challenging aspects of casework is when programs and benefits collide. For individuals, these interactions can be confusing; for the economy and government spending as a whole, they can have huge impacts.

Caseworkers' willingness to go above and beyond to help constituents in distress can easily cross over into burnout and compassion fatigue.

Told effectively, the stories constituents share with caseworkers can illustrate problems with existing federal programs or the need for new federal initiatives.

Caseworkers bear witness to the stories of constituents experiencing the federal government. Told effectively, these stories can build support for policy change through legislation and oversight.

In this session, we'll share starting points to integrate interns and fellows into casework tasks, and think strategically about how to use short-term staff to maximize your casework.

This crash course will help caseworkers understand and be an asset to their teams' legislative work, from appropriations to NDAA.

This training will cover using the Congressional communications toolkit to help teams reach constituents, set expectations for casework, coordinate effectively with DC, and build a reputation of professionalism.

In this overview session, learn how tracking casework data can be a tool to help your team improve your casework process.

The most effective tool caseworkers have at their disposal is a good relationship with an agency contact.

Earmarks can be an effective tool for caseworkers to strengthen relationships with local programs and stakeholders.

In this session, a veteran caseworker shared insights from her casework career and answered questions from new and returning offices.

The House Digital Services team, under the Chief Administrative Officer, at the direction of the Committee on House Administration's Subcommittee on Modernization and Innovation, released their unified data schema for Congressional casework tracking and analysis, representing an enormous step forward for casework.

The sweeping One Big Beautiful Bill Act enacts major changes, many of which may impact Congressional caseworkers’ caseloads in the months and years ahead.

VA’s Congressional casework office is severely understaffed, delaying urgent inquiries and undermining oversight. Despite rising budgets, resources aren’t reaching casework functions. Congress has clear tools to demand accountability and ensure veterans get the help they need

On June 24, POPVOX Foundation’s Casework Navigator program partnered with the Niskanen Center’s State Capacity team to host a panel discussion for Hill staff on how caseworkers and policy staff can collaborate to leverage constituent services data and insights in policymaking.

Casework strengthens Congressional oversight, builds constituent trust, and supports a more resilient institution. POPVOX Foundation Deputy Director Anne Meeker, a former caseworker, outlines strategies to support caseworkers, modernize tools, and turn constituent insights into actionable policy.

A compilation of resources from our free Casework Navigator program to help Congressional offices set up their new casework operations.

Ideas for self-care and professional development for Congressional caseworkers, as well as advice from people who have jumped between casework and other fields.

With the incoming Administration and leadership in both chambers signaling a willingness to undertake sweeping changes to the federal agencies, casework teams should prepare for significant increases in casework.

November 1, 2024

Insights for running a successful mobile office hours program, questions about disaster casework, and a recording of our webinar on agency management of casework. Plus, agency news and updates.

A deep dive with the office of Senator Pete Ricketts [R, NE] on their mobile office hours program, including thoughts on managing the program, gathering data to support their decision-making, and evolving in response to feedback.

Congressional staff face overwhelming workloads during disasters without additional support. Two solutions could reduce burnout, retain knowledge, and improve constituent services during crises.

While not yet passed and enacted, the FY 2025 Senate Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill contains several big wins for casework and caseworkers.

New guidance from the Committee on Ethics, Committee on House Administration, and Communications Standards Commission changes how Members of Congress can collaborate with community organizations on constituent service events.

In an informal study, we analyzed Congressional staff titles associated with constituent services. revealing diverse roles and challenges in organizing casework, revealing diverse roles and challenges in organizing casework.

Through constituent service, Members of Congress build public trust and create tangible improvements for constituents — but these interactions must be handled with great care, given the sensitive nature of information disclosed.

One of the most frustrating parts of casework is seeing the same cases come up over and over again. But the recent House Ways and Means Committee Subcommittee on Social Security focused on some of the most sticky, intractable problems of the SSI and SSDI programs.

Congressional tech modernizers, innovators, and legislative nerds gathered for the 5th Congressional Hackathon. The event focused on ideas and works-in-progress for how tech can streamline Congressional operations and make Congress a safer, more efficient, and more enjoyable place to work.

Lapses in government funding have happened with enough regularity that it is good practice for Congressional offices to have a plan in place for navigating the challenges of continuing their own operations and serving constituent needs.

Katherine Long, POPVOX Foundation’s Casework Programs Senior Fellow, was invited to participate as a delegate of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) Technical Assistance Consultancy with the National Assembly of Armenia as part of the the House Democracy Partnership.

How can caseworkers elevate constituents’ stories and issues while respecting and protecting their privacy and confidentiality? This is a vital question for casework teams to consider in concert with their colleagues on the communications team.

How can the Federal Government effectively and responsibly leverage AI to improve Federal services and missions? This question touches on the work that caseworkers do every day at the front lines of how constituents interact with government and the issues or difficulties they experience.

Interns are invaluable for handling typical tasks like answering phones, opening mail, and staffing the front desk. But it can be hard to find appropriate tasks for interns in a casework program where interns can learn new skills and add value to your team without requiring undue amounts of supervision and training.

For the true nerds interested in diving into casework studies (a political science specialization that we fervently hope will exist one day), we present an unsolicited wish list of questions we wish scholars would help answer on casework in a US context, and a short reading list of existing scholarship.

New and experienced casework teams consistently bring up questions about handling the non-stop pace beginning in March of 2020 with the repatriation of American citizens at the start of the pandemic, and continuing through stimulus payments, pandemic relief, the Afghanistan withdrawal, and the current passport backlog crisis.

One group that received unaccustomed attention from the Select Committee is Congressional caseworkers — those professional staff, mostly in district offices, who do some of the most direct, accountable work in Congress to solve constituent problems with the federal bureaucracy.

A practical guide for state legislative offices on building effective constituent services operations — from intake and case tracking to agency relationships and referrals. Covers staffing models, consent and privacy best practices, data use for oversight, and staff wellbeing in emotionally demanding casework roles.

A new paper by POPVOX Foundation Deputy Director Anne Meeker and New American Senior Fellow Lee Drutman, in partnership with Protect Democracy, examines the potential impacts of multi-member districts on the critical constituent service work that many Americans rely on when navigating federal agencies and programs.

For journalists, Congressional casework can provide story leads that shine a light on the work individual Members of Congress do in their communities, and on the local, human impact of federal policymaking. This guide is a quick reference for journalists covering casework stories, covering typical Congressional office procedures for casework, the history and legal background for casework, and questions to ask around specific pitches or stories.

Insights and recommendations for strengthening constituent services in disaster recovery, based on conversations with Congressional caseworkers and district staff.

Recently-developed — and Congress-approved — generative AI tools aren’t a magic bullet to fix casework, but they can go a long way toward leveling the playing field, making it easier for new staff to quickly get up to speed and experienced staff to more effectively use their time where it counts the most.

This report presents a narrative account of Congressional casework in the Afghanistan withdrawal, and points to ways that Congress can tap into its strengths to evolve in the 21st century and beyond.

POPVOX Foundation has issued guidance on the implementation of “Recommendation 172,” drawing upon the POPVOX Foundation team’s technical expertise, personal experience as caseworkers, and ongoing interactions with district staff through the Casework Navigator program.

POPVOX Foundation Deputy Director Anne Meeker submitted testimony to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch for Fiscal Year 2025 in support of the subcommittee’s work to strengthen Congress’ ability to provide excellent constituent services.

While Congress and the federal agencies in its oversight jurisdiction have changed drastically in the last fifty years, Congressional casework has remained stuck in place. POPVOX Foundation convened caseworkers, researchers, and Congressional advocates to a virtual forum on envisioning the future of casework.

At this ModComm hearing on modernizing constituent services, witnesses, including POPVOX Foundation’s Director of Strategic Initiatives, focused on the need for better technology to streamline the constituent experience, how casework can be used to hold federal agencies accountable for customer service failures, and the importance of supporting the professional staff tasked with this responsibility.

Material que aplica o conceito de casework em perspectiva comparada, especialmente em países que têm o português como idioma oficial