Relationships | Advocacy | Momentum | Progress
BLOOMINGTON-NORMAL, Ill. — The McLean County Chamber of Commerce brought community and business leaders together at its annual RAMP Advocacy Event to reflect on priorities identified during last year’s RAMP gathering and unveil a new Talent Alignment Strategy designed to help strengthen the community’s workforce and long-term vibrancy.
The event built on conversations from the 2025 RAMP event, where attendees identified transformational projects, opportunities to strengthen the community’s identity, and perceived risks facing the Bloomington-Normal area.
Among the top transformational project ideas identified last year were a multi-sports complex with an entertainment venue, a designated and enhanced social and entertainment district, and mixed-use redevelopment of Eastland Mall. Since then, the Town of Normal has updated a feasibility study related to a sports complex, the City of Bloomington has completed Phase 1 of its streetscape project incorporating an entertainment area, and Eastland Mall continues to be a focus of community conversation following its recent sale process.
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“These conversations at RAMP 2025 gave us a clear picture of what our community values, where people see opportunity and what they believe could stand in the way of our continued growth,” said Charlie Moore, President & CEO of the McLean County Chamber of Commerce. “The Chamber’s Board and CEO Council heard that feedback and immediately began looking at how we could help move these conversations forward.”
The Chamber emphasized that its role is not to lead each initiative independently, but to serve as a convener, ask difficult questions and help bring the right organizations and leaders together to identify a path forward.
With the support and investment of Heartland Community College and the McLean County Chamber of Commerce Foundation, the Chamber brought Broad Ripple Strategies, a firm specializing in community visioning and strategic development, into the conversation.
A steering committee of community leaders was formed to help guide the process, drawing on stakeholder input, existing research and community data to better understand current conditions, identify gaps and determine where greater coordination and investment could have the greatest impact. Through this process, the group recognized that creating a long-term vision for the community first requires understanding the people who make up that community, including how the region identifies, trains, cultivates, recruits and retains its workforce.
The result is the McLean County Talent Alignment Strategy, which was presented to RAMP attendees by Alex Pearlstein, Principal of Broad Ripple Strategies.
The strategy focuses on creating a more coordinated talent system that connects employers, educators, workforce organizations and community partners around the needs of the local workforce. Attendees at RAMP participated in roundtable discussions following the presentation, beginning the work of identifying how organizations across the community can contribute to implementation.
“The goal is bigger than workforce development alone,” said Heartland Community College President, Keith Cornille. “It is about creating community vibrancy. Where we all work together to foster the community where we want to be, because this is where people care about and for each other.”
The Talent Alignment Strategy will move into an implementation phase focused on building awareness, understanding, engagement and commitment throughout the community.
Over the next year, goal teams will move the strategy from recommendations to action. From fall 2026 through summer 2027, teams will work to identify priority actions, build on successful efforts already underway, address gaps and develop practical steps for advancing each of the strategy’s five goals.
The work will also establish a framework for long-term implementation. This includes engaging employers and community organizations in specific areas of the strategy, identifying opportunities for organizations to take ownership of the work, establishing measures of progress and determining the leadership structure needed to sustain the effort beyond the first year.
The RAMP event concluded with facilitated roundtable discussions led by table captains and Broad Ripple Strategies, giving attendees an opportunity to engage directly with the strategy and begin identifying opportunities for collective action.
The Talent Alignment Strategy represents the next step in a broader community conversation: not simply determining what Bloomington-Normal wants to become, but building the connections, talent and shared commitment needed to make that vision possible.
Thank you to our event sponsors
Our 2026 Partners In Advocacy:
- Presenting Sponsor: Bloomington & Normal Water Reclamation District
- Platinum Sponsors: Busey Bank, Ferrero, Halo Solar, Little Jewels Learning Center
- Gold Sponsors: AFNI, Parke Regency Hotel, BonChon, Central Illinois Regional Airport, Constellation, Country Financial, O'Brien Auto Team
Lunch Sponsor: Central Illinois Regional Airport
