RollCall: “Casework strained to a breaking point”

On August 31st, POPVOX Foundation published the final paper from the Casework Navigator program: The State of Congressional Casework — and announced that the Casework Navigator program would spin off into an independent nonprofit, The Constituent Service Institute. RollCall’s Nina Heller covered the paper and the announcement.

“Congressional casework is nearing a “boiling point” after years of growing pressure and a chronic lack of investment, according to a new report released Monday by POPVOX Foundation, a nonprofit led by former Hill staffers. 

The report, which draws on four years of research, finds that caseworkers are more valuable than ever as they race to help people left behind by the executive branch — but they aren’t getting the resources or recognition they deserve. 

“We’re in this moment where casework is truly increasing. The frog is boiling, and caseworkers themselves and offices are starting to kind of sit up and go, ‘Oh, this is not sustainable,’” said Anne Meeker, a senior adviser at POPVOX and herself a former caseworker. 

When people can’t get through to a federal agency about their Social Security checks or other crucial benefits, they try their members of Congress. On the other end of the line? A congressional caseworker ready to do whatever they can.

As they help constituents navigate a federal system that is unstable or slow to respond, these staffers are “quietly absorbing costs that properly belong to the executive branch,” the report argues.”

Read the full story and the State of Casework paper.