Dreams Are Possible Celebrates Largest Graduating Class for Bloomington Program

Reposted from The Pantagraph

Story and Photos by D. Jack Alkire

BLOOMINGTON — The adult students of Dreams Are Possible are celebrating their completion of life and work skills courses, and for some, it was their first graduation.

Affording the opportunity to celebrate a graduation is a privilege difficult to describe for Mary Campbell, program director for the nonprofit training center.

“It’s — there aren’t words – to see the transformation and have their families see the transformation of their moms or sisters or aunts or whatever. It’s really powerful,” Campbell said Nov. 7, 2024, at the graduation celebration held at Second Presbyterian Church in downtown Bloomington.

The Dreams Are Possible program is based at 1311 W. Olive St. Bloomington. Each 10-week class hosts a maximum of 10 women and non-binary individuals who receive training in essential skills like budgeting, resume building, interview skills and a variety of others. The skills are tailored to the class’s needs and taught by experienced educators who are women, Campbell said.

The celebration for the class of 2024 drew the most graduates and their friends and family members that the program has seen. It was the first time in the program’s five years that it featured four 10-week courses, one for each season of the year, said Nancy Duffy, the agency’s student relations coordinator. That’s double the number of classes offered in the past, she said.

The size of the crowd caused more than a little apprehension. “It was a little overwhelming when we were planning for the event, you know, because we had 170 people respond” to the invitation, Duffy said.

The ultimate goal for Dreams Are Possible is to empower participants with community and skills with “the knowledge and tools to grow their confidence and prepare them for both living wage jobs and dignity in an inclusive workplace,” according to its mission statement.

“I think what can happen to some people after high school is that they just get stuck,” Duffy said. “And they get stuck in poor paying jobs without benefits and a life that’s driven by crisis to make ends meet.”

Guinevere Potter has worked in warehouse logistics most of her adult life, she said. But, earlier this year, she was thinking of trying to move to a better paying field, Potter said.

“I wanted to see about possibly doing something new, and, like, getting my foot in the door with like a trade or something like that,” she said.

So, Potter convinced her sister Johanna Norman to accompany her in joining Dreams Are Possible.

“I think it was just really cool that it was women to women, and it just felt like it was very empowering,” Norman said.

The staff and volunteers at Dreams Are Possible created an environment that was welcoming and inviting, Norman said. “Knowing that people want you to succeed and want to help you get there, is really just warming.”

Affording a place for people to grow, whatever their background or means, gives them a chance to create positive relationships and community, which Duffy said is a large portion of their goal.

“Twice a week, they can come to be with us, and they can exhale, and they can learn, and they can be empowered to consider other possibilities” besides their current situation, Duffy said.

That can be beyond traditional education, too. “So much of what we do is about building their self-esteem and their confidence, and that, whatever it is they’re dreaming, they can do,” said instructor Lisa Manalisay of Decatur.

Manalisay has been educating in many capacities since the mid-1980s, and she has seen all manner of folk succeed when given the opportunity, she said.

“Whatever it is you want to do, it’s in you,” Manalisay said.

Illinois Prairie Community Foundation serves as fiscal sponsor for Dreams Are Possible. If you would like to support the fund’s mission, please donate online.