Rebuilding Community with the TCB expansion

PROJECT UPDATE: We have completed our building addition! Students have moved in and are enjoying the new spaces. And the community is enjoying the expanded ability to use the community space. That said, it’s not paid off yet! The community has done an amazing job of helping pay for more than 90%, but we still have some fundraising left to do. If you can help, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Read on to learn about the need for the expansion…

Since 1983, the Takilma Community Building (TCB) has served as one of the Illinois Valley’s few community gathering and event spaces.  The building is a performing arts venue, has a commercial kitchen available for community use, and is equipped to serve as an emergency shelter (Learn more about the TCB and using it for your event).

Early on, the TCB was utilized many nights each week—for community dinners, yoga classes, drum circles, movie nights, and more. During the day it served as classroom space for the Dome School, a non-profit parent cooperative school which has served the Illinois Valley for 40 years. But over the past 33 years, the school has grown, severely limiting community use. Because of the work involved in converting the school for community use, most uses only happen on Saturdays (allowing Fridays to “put the school away” and Sundays to “put the school back”).  Instead of a 5 day/week school and 1 day/week community building, the goal of this project is to return to the days when we had a 5 day/week school and a 7 day/week community space.

Further, the building has major shortcomings as a school. Presently all students share one cavernous event hall, a thin divider splitting the space into 2 classrooms. The noise generated between classrooms is detrimental to student education. Recent sound level measurements averaged 79.3 dBA with peaks up to 97.1 dBA; but according to the World Health Organization, classroom noise levels should not exceed 35 dBA. This noise carryover has proved detrimental to the students’ education.

The time is now for a building addition which will simultaneously give our local community the chance to reclaim regular use of the Takilma Community Building and give our children safe permanent classrooms.

The good news is we have already raised nearly 77% of construction costs and have found a contractor willing to work with us to get started! We broke ground at a small ceremony on Wednesday, May 18, and are nearing the end of Phase I (the closing in and weather-proofing of the building shell). But we still have more we need to raise in a very short period of time, if we are to take it from just the shell to a fully functioning useable space for students and community.

If you have a few minutes, please watch the video below. It was put together by the building expansion committee’s Dallion McGregor and helps tell the story of our current situation and needs.

The support of our community, alumni, and family and friends is crucial at this time. Donations can be sent to us at The Dome School, PO Box 812, Cave Junction, OR 97523. You can also direct people to this page you’re on (domeschool.org/help), to help us spread the word.

Thank you for sharing this, and helping us make a better future for the Illinois Valley.