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  1. About Bloom
  2. Employment terms and policies
  3. Code of Conduct
  4. Your first few weeks at Bloom
  5. Things to set up in your first week
  6. Pay and benefits for salaried employees
  7. Working hours
  8. How we show up
  9. Time tracking
  10. Time off
  11. Expenses and reimbursement procedures
  12. Travel and relocations
  13. Career growth, professional development, and competencies
  14. Outside activities and conflicts of interest
  15. Leaving Bloom

Lauren Lockwood created Bloom in 2018 after creating the first digital services team for the City of Boston. In 2019, she joined up with Emily Wright-Moore, a founding member of the U.S. Digital Service team and lead designer of VA.gov. They put together a dream team of brilliant researchers, designers, and developers to become the company they wish they had when they worked in government.

As former government workers, many of us on the Bloom team know firsthand the challenges of modernizing services. We've worked with legacy systems and bureaucratic teams that made it nearly impossible to put a simple form online — or to bring modern change to the workplace.

In that world, when we tried to hire outside help, we found people who were more interested in keeping us locked into their contracts than in solving our problems. Bloom is different. We're here to help navigate complex paths to make lives easier, services more intuitive and accessible, and the client’s vision achievable.

Check out this 2019 GovTech piece for more about Bloom.

Mission & core values

Our aim is to advance access and equity by building digital services that work seamlessly for the people who rely on them.

  • Lead with courage: Welcome ambiguity. Remember that challenging the status quo requires stepping into uncharted territory.
  • Center the people: Seek an understanding of people's lived experiences, and challenge systems that perpetuate inequities.
  • Share the process: Cultivate mutual trust between peers, partners, and clients. Leave egos behind, and share findings.
  • Adapt to change: Pursue excellence by being curious, determined, and willing to change plans. Make only new mistakes.
  • Design for impact: Come with high expectations but be cognizant of constraints. Create processes that people can actually use and build on over time.

Diversity, equity, & inclusion

We envision a world that is made more equitable through better digital public services. Our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is woven into everything we do, from our company’s strategy to the makeup of our team, to the work we take on. As a public interest technology company, we see diversity and equity-building as integral to both our mission and our research practices.

We are committed to disrupting power dynamics and equity barriers in our work. We recruit employees and partners who reflect the demographics of targeted end users, and we analyze, test, and iterate to make sure everyone can easily access and use the digital tools we build. As a public benefit company, we are compelled to generate social and public good, and to operate in a responsible and sustainable manner.

Our community & field

Bloom is a Public Benefit LLC, and a Pennsylvania and Virginia-Certified Small Diverse Business that's recognized by the U.S. Small Business Association as an Economically Disadvantaged Woman-Owned Small Business (EDWOSB), and is Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) Certified.

Bloom is a founding member of the Digital Women-Owned Small Business Alliance (Digital WOSB Alliance), a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the advancement and expansion of women-owned, women-led digital services organizations through community, advocacy and education.

We are also a member of the Digital Services Coalition, a collection of agile technology and design firms that serve—or aspire to serve—the government.