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. The Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) recently commissioned a study examining agency-wide responsiveness to constituent service inquiries, with an eye to streamlining the process for both agencies and Congressional offices.

In this webinar, Boston University law professor Sean Kealy, author of the ACUS report, will share some of his research and findings, as well as his recommendations to agencies on improving responsiveness to Congressional offices.

Speakers:

Sean J. Kealy, Clinical Associate Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law

Moderator:

Anne Meeker, Deputy Director, POPVOX Foundation

While casework remains a cornerstone of Congressional service, it often involves time-consuming, repetitive tasks that can overwhelm both new and experienced staff. This session will explore how recently-developed, Congress-approved generative AI tools can streamline casework processes, making them more efficient and accessible. Learn how these technologies can help new staff quickly acclimate to their roles and allow seasoned caseworkers to focus their expertise where it matters most — and how to use them responsibly to keep your team and your constituents safe. We'll discuss practical applications of commercially available and Congressionally-approved AI tools, offering a balanced view of both the potential and limitations of these tools in enhancing constituent services.

Speakers:

Anne Meeker, Deputy Director, POPVOX Foundation

Join POPVOX Foundation for a webinar designed to help Congressional staff gain a clear understanding of the recent Loper Bright decision that overturned the “Chevron doctrine.”

No casework team is an island, and few constituents understand which of their elected officials has jurisdiction over which program. 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.

Speakers:

Ian McKnight, State Training and Development Manager, Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy

Nick Dokoozlian, Effective Government Fellow, POPVOX Foundation

Moderator:

Anne Meeker, Deputy Director, POPVOX Foundation

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.

Speaker:

Megan Rickman Blackwood, former Legislative Director for Virginia State Senator Mamie E. Locke

Moderator:

Anne Meeker, Deputy Director, POPVOX Foundation

Join POPVOX Foundation and the Capitol Hill Intern Association for a conversation about how to effectively write quality deliverables and navigate the unique professional landscape of Capitol Hill.

With a focus on post-disaster assistance programs, the goal of this Inter-Branch Exchange working session on disaster assistance is to identify opportunities for standardizing data, streamlining processes, and improving technical implementation, program evaluation, and oversight.

The Congress 2076 workshop will bring together Congress scholars and champions to share ideas and envision a Congress that is resilient, responsive, and effective for America’s tercentennial.

This working session, hosted by Georgetown’s Massive Data Institute and POPVOX Foundation in partnership with the New Practice Lab at New America, and sponsored by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Healthy Communities Initiative, brings together staffers from the state and federal levels in both the executive and legislative branches, along with researchers and on-the-ground paid leave implementers and experts.

Join POPVOX Foundation and the Capitol Hill Intern Association for a panel discussion exploring actionable tips for utilizing free AI tools to enhance your work as an Congressional intern.

Join POPVOX Foundation and the Modernization Staff Association for a panel discussion on the ins and outs of the complex appropriations process, with a focus on providing actionable knowledge for early-career staffers new to this portfolio.

Join POPVOX Foundation and the Capitol Hill Intern Association for an insightful panel discussion exploring the rich history and continuing importance of Congressional internships.

Join us as POPVOX Foundation brings together current and former caseworkers and experts from #AfghanEvac to discuss the findings and recommendations from “American Ingenuity: Congressional Casework in the Afghanistan Withdrawal,” a new report detailing the extraordinary efforts of Congressional caseworkers who overcame bureaucratic obstacles in a high-stakes situation to facilitate the evacuation of thousands of Americans and American allies during the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

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. Did you know that in the 1970s, some Senators employed shared casework staff? Or that between 1905 and 1907, private bills on behalf of constituents represented 89% of laws passed by Congress? Or that casework has survived multiple attempts to remove it from Congressional duties entirely?

Join us for the kickoff of the 2024 Casework Navigator webinar series with special guest Daniel Holt, Associate Historian from the Senate Historical Office.

This event will put modern casework in context, exploring how we got here, and what we can learn from previous iterations of casework to chart the future of democratic representation in America.

Speaker:

Daniel S. Holt, Associate Historian, U.S. Senate Historical Office

Moderator:

Anne Meeker, Deputy Director, POPVOX Foundation

“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.

Don Moynihan, McCourt Chair at the Georgetown McCourt School of Public Policy, has pioneered the study of administrative burden, including new language and frameworks to understand the types of costs associated with navigating complex bureaucracies. Caseworkers will come away with a deeper understanding of the root problems behind common casework inquiries, and ideas for tracking types of casework and articulating casework challenges to policy staff.

Speaker:

Donald Moynihan, McCourt Chair, McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University

Moderator:

Anne Meeker, Deputy Director, POPVOX Foundation

Generative AI (GenAI) is a tool that can be added to a congressional staffer’s toolbox to increase capacity and effectiveness. POPVOX Foundation and the R Street Institute invite you to join us for a virtual introductory training on how to finally take the plunge and get familiar with generative AI.

Generative AI (GenAI) is a tool that can be added to a congressional staffer’s toolbox to increase capacity and effectiveness. POPVOX Foundation and the R Street Institute invite you to join us for a virtual introductory training on how to finally take the plunge and get familiar with generative AI.

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.

Jennifer Pahlka has been at the forefront of the push to reimagine government technology, and her new book, Recoding America, is an argument for seeing policy and implementation as coequal parts of governing—with stories and core concepts that will resonate for every caseworker. While caseworkers are part of the branch in charge of policy, casework experience is all about implementation: how do good policy ideas become complicated and counterproductive as they’re filtered through agencies?

Jennifer has argued that every policymaker should have experience in government customer service positions. This webinar will discuss how caseworkers and other frontline implementation experts can and must leverage that expertise to reimagine government service for the 21st century.

Speaker:

Jennifer Pahlka, author of Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better

Moderator:

Anne Meeker, Deputy Director, POPVOX Foundation

Participants from the legislative branch, digital service delivery, and data and evidence-based policy are invited to join this working session to identify existing challenges, leverage evidence-based policymaking, and identify actionable solutions for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of SNAP.

One of the most challenging aspects of casework is when programs and benefits collide: a veteran might have a permanent disability rating with the VA, but need to recertify for SSDI, or a slight change in income that increases one benefit makes another one fall by a larger amount. For individuals, these interactions can be confusing; for the economy and government spending as a whole, they can have huge impacts.

Max Ghenis is the CEO and co-founder of PolicyEngine, a nonprofit organization developing open-source tools to help constituents and policymakers understand how programs interact and compute the impact of policy changes for families and for the country. In this webinar, Max will demo PolicyEngine, and talk about the challenges behind understanding the complex web of interacting programs.

Speaker:

Max Ghenis, Co-founder and CEO, PolicyEngine

Moderator:

Anne Meeker, Deputy Director, POPVOX Foundation

Samuel Hammond, Chief Economist at the Foundation for American Innovation, shared a presentation with Congressional staff about how AI will transform political institutions.

Caseworkers' willingness to go above and beyond to help constituents in distress can easily cross over into burnout and compassion fatigue. In this webinar, experts from the Schwartz Center for Compassion in Healthcare shared their innovative approaches to supporting caregivers facing burnout and trauma in the medical field. Caseworkers will explore ways these lessons may be applied to Congressional contexts.

Speaker:

Julie Collier, Clinical Assistant Professor, Stanford School of Medicine

Moderator:

Anne Meeker, Deputy Director, POPVOX Foundation

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.

Speaker:

Susanne Schmitt, Comedic Storyteller and Performer

Moderator:

Katherine Long, Senior Casework Fellow, POPVOX Foundation

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.

Speaker:

Susanne Schmitt, Comedic Storyteller and Performer

Moderator:

Katherine Long, Senior Casework Fellow, POPVOX Foundation

John Nay, Ph.D. shared a presentation of the evolution of LLMs and his work to create a Large Legal Language Model (LLLM) trained on legal data and potential applications within the lawmaking process.

Internapalooza is a free, nonpartisan orientation and welcome event for all current Congressional interns, hosted by the POPVOX Foundation and members of the First Branch Intern Project.

Please join us for a pre-launch book event with Jennifer Pahlka, former Obama White House official and author of “Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better,” in a bipartisan conversation with Matt Lira, former Congressional leadership staffer and Trump White House official, about the adoption of technology and digital practices.

Join POPVOX Foundation, Ignite Talks, and Foundation for American Innovation in San Francisco for an intimate, off-the-record conversation with the trailblazers building emerging artificial intelligence technologies.

District and state offices know that interns are invaluable for handling typical tasks like answering phones, opening mail, and staffing the front desk. But it can be hard in the constant churn of three new classes a year to find appropriate tasks for interns in a casework program.

Speaker:

Anne Meeker, Deputy Director, POPVOX Foundation

Caseworkers' authority to help constituents comes from Congress's oversight responsibility. But what does that mean beyond writing bills and letters? This crash course will help caseworkers understand and be an asset to their teams' legislative work, from appropriations to NDAA.

Speaker:

Tim Stretton, Director of the Congressional Oversight Initiative, Project on Government Oversight

Moderator:

Anne Meeker, Deputy Director, POPVOX Foundation