Constance Williams, a licensed clinical social worker with U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján’s Portales office, described the range of federal constituent services available to residents of Roosevelt County and six neighboring counties during the Roosevelt County Commission meeting. She said the office assists with federal agency issues, correspondence, grant searches, letters of support and academy nominations.

Williams said the Portales office’s coverage includes Curry, Roosevelt, Quay, De Baca, Lea, Eddy and Chavez counties, and emphasized the office’s casework capacity. "Our goal is to help people," she said, describing high caseloads and assistance with Social Security Disability, the Department of Veterans Affairs and other federal programs.

She reviewed how constituents should initiate help — a one-page privacy release and a letter describing the concern — and described circumstances when additional releases (for example, HIPAA releases for health issues) or referrals to other agencies are required. Williams recommended that anyone who applied under the PACT Act — the federal law passed in 2022 to expand presumptions for certain veteran illnesses — contact the office for help if they are having difficulty obtaining benefits, citing recent Office of Inspector General findings that some VA staff were not fully trained on the law.

Williams also described a grants coordinator used by the New Mexico congressional delegation who helps local organizations identify federal funding opportunities and advised organizations to prepare simple, bulleted project lists when seeking letters of support. She said the office will coordinate with local governments on projects such as those listed in ICIP (the county’s capital improvement plan) and will do outreach in late February and March on congressionally directed spending or grants.

Williams closed by listing the Portales office address, a cellphone contact she had given commissioners and an invitation to visit the office for assistance or to discuss potential projects.

The presentation was informational; commissioners asked about routing the county ICIP through the office, and Williams said staff can cross-reference the ICIP and suggested department presentations and needs assessments would help the office identify appropriate federal funding pathways.