As previously mentioned, I'm interning at the district office of Matt
Salmon, who represents portions of the east valley in the House of
Representatives. For each congressional district, there is an office in
Washington, D.C. as well as one located in the district itself, and of
course I'll be in the local district office, which is in downtown
Gilbert
While the Washington office handles more of the
legislative side of things, the district office in Gilbert handles
what's known as constituent services. This type of work goes on behind
the scenes, but probably affects the lives of individual citizens more
than almost anything else that is done by congressional staff. In
providing constituent services, the office acts as a person's advocate
with federal agencies such as the IRS, the Social Security
Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of
Justice, and many others.
I'll be assisting with
constituent services in a peripheral way - drafting form letters and
things of that nature - as part of my internship. Interns also greet
anyone who arrives for an appointment or as a walk-in. I'll also be
answering phone calls and tracking them in the database. When you "call
your Congressman", the district office is where the phone rings, and
it's answered by someone like me. There is some typical internship grunt-work as well: bring in the newspaper,
take and deliver messages, that sort of thing. A little of everything,
really. My internship is unpaid, but should be great for the experience
and the always-needed resume builder.
Oh boy I bet you will have many stories and memories at the end of this. You will meet many leaders and make many connections. Mostly you will have a lot of practice at exercise patience and professionalism while speaking to constituents and non-constituents :) Although politicians are criticized constantly they do make their work their life. It's many hours out of their personal life in order to serve. I look forward to reading more of your posts and reading about your observation when your internship comes to a close as far as whether you see yourself as a staffer etc.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a fun internship! I met with Rep. Salmon's office in Washington, D.C. The office is really small and I do not know how all the staffers make the area work for them. I went to Washington, D.C. with a policy program that is hosted by the Maricpa Community Colleges. The program is called Student Public Policy Forum (SPPF). It was great and a really good insight to the madness of D.C. I'm sure you'll enjoy the work and time spent there. Yes, resume building is a never endless cycle.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this entry because I learned a lot of interesting information on the district offices. It seems like you will have a good summer interning for district office.
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