20 ModCom recommendations to strengthen casework
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.
Recommendations for a more constituent-friendly Congress
Earlier this month, I had the top-of-the-bucket-list chance to testify at a House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress on constituent services, and building a more customer-friendly Congress (video and transcript available here). As a former caseworker, it meant so much to be asked to come to DC to talk about casework, and share a starting-point vision for how Congress can capture the potential inherent in casework, and the expertise and talents of caseworkers across the country. The hearing covered so much ground, and it still only managed to scratch the surface of what’s possible and needed to push casework into the 21st century.
Three recommendations for modernizing district office operations
District office modernization presents an opportunity to improve the accuracy and speed of information provided to constituents about their rights and responsibilities with the Federal government. When problems do arise, a House-wide casework analytics and tagging system can provide the basis for active oversight or legislative action to improve the civic experience. Furthermore, the insights and perspectives of district staff are a largely untapped resource for institutional improvements and providing greater opportunities for connection, collaboration, and information-sharing could bring significant benefit for each of the 441 offices in the House.
Expand existing “customer experience” (CX) efforts to include “civic experience” (CivX) principles
In recent years, the Federal Government has prioritized customer experience (“CX”) metrics for public-facing services. The narrow construct of “citizen as customer,” however, can have detrimental effects on the advancement of equity in governing processes. This submission describes the growth of CX practices within the Federal Government and how a narrow CX focus can negatively impact equity. We then offer recommendations to help OMB guide agencies toward more inclusive engagement metrics like civic knowledge, public trust, and political efficacy in addition to conventional “customer experience” measures.
NEW REPORT: How Deliberative Forums Could Improve Constituent Engagement in Congress
We worked with one Member of Congress and their staff to conduct a week-long, online, asynchronous, policy forum between the Member and a representative sample of their constituency. The goal of this forum was to pilot a new way for Members of Congress to interact with constituents using qualities found in deliberative democracies around the globe. Our new report highlights important findings from this experiment.