Blossom Daily

Blossom Daily is the cafe program of ServiceSource, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in Oakton, Virginia that has been providing employment and training services to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities since 1960. The M Street Georgetown cafe at 3207 is the organization’s retail operation in Georgetown, staffed by ServiceSource clients and employees as part of the organization’s mission of expanding competitive integrated employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

The model that Blossom Daily represents is the social enterprise approach to disability employment: rather than a sheltered workshop or a segregated employment program, the cafe operates as a real business in the Georgetown commercial district, serving the same customer base that any Georgetown M Street cafe serves and requiring its staff to perform at the level that competitive employment demands. This is the distinction between the Blossom Daily model and older disability employment models: the customers are not charity supporters making a purchase out of good will but Georgetown residents and visitors who want a good cup of coffee and breakfast at a convenient address.

The food and beverage menu covers the cafe staples: espresso drinks across the standard formats from espresso to latte to cold brew, breakfast sandwiches on the baked goods that the kitchen produces in-house, seasonal wraps and bistro boxes for the lunch context, and the beignets that appear among the dessert options and which reflect the cafe’s willingness to bring a distinctive pastry into the menu rather than the generic muffin and croissant defaults. The menu is real; the prices are competitive; the mission is the operating context rather than the product.

The artisan goods available at Blossom Daily, which include soaps, scarves, mugs, bookmarks, and other handmade items produced by artisans in ServiceSource partner organizations, extend the cafe into a small gift and craft retail presence alongside the food and beverage operation. For the Georgetown customer who wants a coffee purchase to directly support inclusive employment in the city they live in, Blossom Daily provides that connection at a corner of M Street.

Hours run from 7am Monday through Friday, 8am Saturday, and 8am Sunday, with earlier afternoon closing on Saturday and Sunday. ServiceSource was founded in 1960 as a workshop program and has evolved over six decades into an organization that focuses on competitive integrated employment, the model that disability employment advocates have identified as the most beneficial for people with disabilities. Competitive integrated employment means working in real workplaces alongside non-disabled coworkers, at competitive wages, in jobs that match the individual’s skills and interests. Blossom Daily is a direct expression of this model: a real Georgetown cafe with real customers and market-rate prices, where the staff happens to include people with intellectual and developmental disabilities working in competitive employment. For customers who understand the distinction between this model and charitable employment programs, the purchase at Blossom Daily is both a transaction and a statement about what inclusive employment in a commercial district looks like. Hours run from 7am weekdays and 8am weekends.