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A few weeks back the six pieces of the new Pinoleville Native American Head Start school building arrived, and the excitement continues to grow. The new school building comes courtesy of an Indian Community Development Block Grant funded by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. While the funding came from the Government, the construction took place north of the border.
To help make the project a reality on a limited budget, the Pinoleville Pomo Nation looked to Evolve Builders Group Inc. in Ontario, Canada for assistance. The group specializes in green construction and eco-friendly renovations, including straw bale construction for modular units like our new school. Not only does Evolve lead the way in these projects, the organization brings the “100 Mile Diet” concept to construction. That means they work with locally-sourced building materials & socially-conscious purchasing practices. The end result is a spectacular new building that should open in the coming weeks.
After contacting Evolve, the wheels were put into motion to build the school in Canada prior to shipping it here. The process was the first of its kind as Evolve hadn’t worked with a Tribe before on such a far-reaching project. After working out customs and shipping, construction took about 10 months following initial contact in August of 2014.
Once completed, the school was delivered in six separate pieces in early June with assembly instructions to make them whole again. As you can see in the slideshow above, the pieces were loaded on semi trucks and driven here one-by-one. After the pieces arrived, staff has worked around the clock to assemble the building, install flooring, HVAC and so much more.
Join us back here in a few weeks as we bring you a video tour inside the new Pinoleville Native American Head Start school building where we’ll detail the magic inside including interactive, Wi-Fi-enabled white boards, and so much more. Until then enjoy the slideshow above, and a short, time lapse video below detailing some of the process. To learn more about Evolve Builders Group Inc., take a look at some of their services offered.
