Bloomington-Normal is a community founded upon a deep investment in education. As the site of Illinois’s first public university, Illinois State Normal University upheld the mission of a “normal school” (École Normale) to train teachers in the most innovative and progressive education practices. Since ISU’s inception in the mid-1800s, education has been the lifeblood of our community and has given rise to local development and entrepreneurship, distinct cultural and artistic contributions, and visionary civic leadership.

Today, the Twin Cities still bear the name of the normal school. Our mission for Bloom Community School is to ensure we also uphold its spirit. The principles of innovation and progress are at odds with our increasingly narrow and standardized education options. What’s more, the ongoing budgetary and financial constraints in the State of Illinois threaten to effectively undermine the wealth of cultural and educational resources in Bloomington-Normal. Bloom Community School seeks to reinvigorate that innovative and progressive spirit of education in our community through sustained and reciprocal relationships with community-based organizations and education providers (“Community Education Collaborators”). Through these committed and collaborative partnerships, education will surely bloom in new ways in our community.