This toolkit helps lawmakers and staff improve constituents’ lives through effective constituent services. Constituent services are a critical way for you to get feedback on what is and isn’t working in government, highlight the work you’re doing, and build your brand. This toolkit will help you Communicate With The People Who Hired You, Effectively Deliver for Constituents and Show Your Impact so you can better serve more constituents.

 

1. Communicate With The People Who Hired You 

A regular presence helps build trust in your work and increases how well known you are so constituents know to come to you for help with their problems. Consider leveraging:

• Regional Events: Showing people you are available to them where they gather creates the sense that you are “everywhere.” Don’t miss state, county, or street fairs, tree/holiday lightings, ribbon cuttings, or parades. And remember, if people did not see you, you were not there, so be sure to have a prominent sign.
  • Community Events: Any time you are invited to a neighborhood/tenant/block association meeting, first day of school, school sports event, or graduation, attend. Anytime you are not invited, ask the organizer if you might come by and speak. Remember to reintroduce yourself – most don’t know their state lawmakers!
  • Houses of Worship: Churches, mosques, synagogues, etc. may welcome lawmakers at services or events. The only way to find out is to ask every single one in your district.
  • Media/Social Media: Being in the news or active on social media is absolutely essential. These platforms and the press can help you demonstrate how you are lowering costs, bringing jobs to the district, or otherwise improving constituents’ lives. But it is far from the only way to communicate with the people who hired you. You can also highlight your other constituent services work, and your presence at events with photos and videos, on these platforms or in the press.
  • Town Halls/Office Hours/Virtual Engagement: Regular town halls, open office hours at your office or in the community (at grocery stores, community centers, or libraries, etc.) or online – at times that are convenient for constituents – send a great message that you are here to help. Promotion for the event will reach many more than the event itself, so focus heavily on outreach.

• Newsletters/Mailers: Share government newsletters recapping recent work. Most people are not experts on government or local happenings. Make information easy to understand and unrelentingly connect it to people’s lives, even if they are not a politico. Keep topics to a headline and a few sentences, and include lots of pictures – it should be fun and easy to read!
• Phone and Email: Have a hotline or office number and email address constituents can use. Monitor it consistently and always respond within 1 business day.
• Giveaways: Affix branded stickers or cards to give-aways like backpacks, pumpkins, candy, turkeys, ham, emergency kits, sandbags, water bottles, etc. Agencies or partners may donate items, or you may use campaign funds where allowable. 
• Charity: Depending on ethics rules, consider coat, canned food, or school supply drives, potentially in partnership with a community organization or religious institution.

At Events:

• Show your presence with prominent signage (highly-held if you’re on the move) that includes your name, photo, contact and social media information, and hand out cards with the same. Consider branded shirts too — nametags aren’t enough.
• Collect constituent contact information; if possible, bring a staffer/volunteer with a note pad so they can listen to your conversations and coordinate follow up. Conversations without contact information and follow up are worse than none at all.
• Take pictures and include them in newsletter and on social media or share a recap and statement with the press – people want to see you in the community regularly!
• Consider translation/interpretation appropriate for the event, as well as accessibility. 

 

2. Effectively Deliver For Constituents 

You can create a winning process for casework if you:

• Establish and Maintain An Intake Process
  • Use an intake form to document all constituent inquiries (phone, in person, etc.) 
  • Acknowledge receipt of all inquiries within a business day and maintain regular check-ins with the constituent to let them know you’re continuing to work on the issue, even if there are no substantive updates. This requires a strict cadence for check-ins; often the cadence drives urgency for you and your team to get results.

• Set Clear Expectations & Close The Loop
  • Never make promises regarding outcomes. Instead, commit to diligent follow-up and advocacy, and be as specific as possible about the path forward.
  • Generally, state and local agencies will respond to state lawmakers; federal agencies may not, so consider referring constituents to federal lawmakers for those issues. 
  • Always close the loop with your constituents, even if the update is just that you’ve reached out to an agency and expect a response within a week. Relay regular updates, even if just to share a new timeline for a response or that follow-up has been attempted. Every thing you do for them will be a pleasant surprise to most people. Remember that you are on their side.

• Implement a Casework Tracking System
  • Use a system to track, catalog, and manage casework; your chamber may provide one or you may utilize an internal spreadsheet depending on ethics rules.
  • Keep detailed case files, including correspondence, documents, and follow-up actions; make sure any confidential or private information remains secure.

• Always Be Ethical:
  • Understand state and chamber ethics rules, and treat all constituents equally.
  • Summarize requests and speak in factual statements. Ex: “the constituent shared they applied for a permit two weeks ago and haven’t received a response.”
  • Don’t ask for specific outcomes; do ask about process/timelines. Ex: Instead of asking for a permit approval, ask for a review timeline or about an appeals process. Assume any casework email you send could appear on the front page of the news.

• Agency Engagement:
  • Agencies may have a designated contact you should reach out to — consider a contact list shared caucus-wide that’s updated regularly. Agencies have a hierarchy; generally try to solve a problem with staff before escalating to agency heads.
  • When engaging an agency, explain the issue and get a timeline. The agency may want to contact the constituent directly which is fine, but push for a deadline and follow-up with the agency and constituent by each deadline to ensure progress. 
  • Phone calls and emails are a good first step; if an agency is ignoring you, it might make sense to get creative: you may want to skip leaving voicemails so you can continue to call throughout the week, or you may consider blocking your number before calling. Remember that a one-way contact (from you to no response) is no contact at all and, despite the effort it takes, will never satisfy a constituent in need.
  • After exhausting options with the staff, if you think the outcome is not reasonable, then always escalate to the agency head or senior elected official. 
  • If the agency still isn’t moving toward a reasonable outcome, escalate to something that is or could be public, such as a formal letter, contacting a reporter, hosting a press conference, or raising an issue at a hearing – but make sure a constituent is comfortable with this approach before anything becomes public. 
  • Sometimes agencies will finger-point to other agencies. When this happens, try to organize a meeting with representatives from each agency, or escalate to an overseeing executive office (Governor, Mayor, etc.).
  • Maintaining agency relationships is key for future casework. Thank agencies when they do well. It may also make sense to give them a courtesy heads up about any press/public action, for good or bad news. Most of the time, they will also appreciate having been pushed to help – they’re public servants too!

 

3. Show Your Impact

Now that you’ve completed your casework, spread the word:

• Share Wins Quickly & Widely
  • Always immediately deliver good news to constituents. Share bad news quickly too – lean into the progress you made and any interim wins or next steps.
  • For wins, consider a social media post or pitching local press (especially for broader local wins, like a traffic light or a park improvement) or include it in your newsletter. 
  • This isn’t just about getting credit — it helps other constituents with the same problem know you can help and shows people what effective state lawmakers can do.
  • Never share private details, and consider whether it’s appropriate to share a public story. Ask the constituent for permission to do so.

• Track Results
  • Consider feedback surveys to assess effectiveness and improve services.
  • Monitor casework metrics (timelines, satisfaction) to identify areas of improvement.
  • Track types of issues and share information with your caucus – sometimes that points to a broader issue with an agency or need for a legislative fix.

Looking for more information on taking your constituent services to the next level? Contact The States Project at policy@statesproject.org.