Last night Congressman John Carter's (TX-31) congressional office website was awarded a “Bronze Mouse Award” by the Congressional Management Foundation, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to helping Congress and its Members meet the evolving needs and expectations of a 21st century citizenry.

“It's a priority of mine that my staff and I perform at the highest level of constituent service and outreach," Carter said. "My website serves as a vital conduit for this effort, and I, along with my staff will continue to work on improving it and other avenues of communication. Our website provides our constituents invaluable resources and insight into what we're doing as a Congressional office.”

Web sites were graded on how well they incorporate five core principles that CMF identified through extensive research as critical for effectiveness: know your audience, provide timely and targeted content that meets their needs, make the site easy to use, foster interaction both on and offline, and add value through innovation.

“One of the key reasons for the awards is to highlight best practices so offices can improve their sites by learning from those already excelling in online communications,” said Beverly Bell, CMF’s Executive Director. “Web sites like Congressman Carter's serve as a prime example that we hope other congressional offices will follow.”

“Mr. Carter's Web site shows that he understands how to meet the needs of their constituents online,” said Bell. “The Congressional Management Foundation congratulates Congressman Carter and his staff for having a Web site that is among the best on Capitol Hill, and we are pleased to present the Office of Congressman John Carter with the 111th Congress Bronze Mouse Award.”

“The 111th Congress report shows that Web sites continue to be a critical channel through which Members and congressional committees can communicate with, and hear from, citizens. The Internet is a vital tool for elected officials and the public to use in the give-and-take of ideas and opinions that has characterized the American form of government since its founding” Bell said.

The 111th Congress Gold Mouse Awards are part of CMF’s Partnership For A More Perfect Union, which seeks to improve the quality of communication between Members and their constituents. For this project CMF partnered with researchers from the Harvard Kennedy School, Northeastern University, University of California–Riverside, and the Ohio State University to study how Members of Congress can use the Internet to improve communications with their constituents and to promote greater participation in the legislative process.