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Success Stories

Smith Island, Maryland

Investing in Wastewater Infrastructure is Key to Preserving Smith Island, Maryland

For the people living on Smith Island, the water matters. But it’s about more than the beautiful views of the Chesapeake Bay from the picturesque island ten miles from the mainland. The multi‐generational residents depend on the surrounding Chesapeake Bay for their livelihoods. For many, crabbing, oystering, and ecotourism are what puts dollars in their bank accounts, and food on their tables. In rural communities…
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Search Results: 714 Stories

Homeownership is “Life Changing” for Cherryfield Woman

There is nothing quite like the glow of a proud new homeowner. For Kate McGowan, her new home in Cherryfield is everything she ever dreamed of. Kate, whose life’s journey has taken her from far Northern Maine where she was born, thousands of miles away to California, and back… [Read More]
Homeownership
Jeanna Dolezal outside her home

Homeowner at Crossroads, Utilizes Home Repair Funding

Homeownership helps families and individuals build savings over time; however, keeping your home in good repair can still be a financial hardship for homeowners.  USDA Rural Development’s Home Repair Loan and Grant Program can assist rural homeowners with these needed repairs… [Read More]
Home Repair
Rose and Crown Apothecary offers a variety of herbal products created from plants native to the Pacific Northwest.

Entrepreneur Training Helps Herbal Hobbyist Create a Rural Business

Sarah Butte wanted to use her background in sustainable horticulture to start a business creating herbal products from garden-grown and foraged plants. She created a CSA and then sold her products through a natural medicine clinic, but she never earned enough for it to be more… [Read More]
Small Business
Sherry Parker poses for a photo by the construction of her new home in Northern Calirfornia. Parker lost her home during the devastation of the Camp Fire in 2018. (USDA Courtesy Photo)

Rural Development helps family find home after Camp Fire

Sherry Parker was single mother to three children when devastation rained down. California’s Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California’s history, and the most expensive natural disaster in the world in 2018 in terms of insured losses, devoured their… [Read More]
Homeownership
Amelia Smith is building her own home through the Mutual Self-Help Housing Program.

I Built a Future With My Own Hands

Amelia Smith is building her first home through the USDA Rural Development's Mutual Self-Help program in collaboration with Six County Association of Governments (SEAULG), which improves local government coordination of mutually beneficial programs where she lives in Sevier,… [Read More]
Homeownership
A picture of Amber and her family in front of the house they built

The Home that Friends Built

As a single mother of two, Amber W. works as a youth counselor, a YMCA fitness instructor, and a dance instructor for children and adults with disabilities in Helena, Mont.  Amber had long dreamed of becoming a homeowner and, in 2021, her vision came to fruition through a… [Read More]
Homeownership
The Astoria Co-op installed rooftop solar panels to offset its energy use.

Rural Co-op Shines a Light on the Benefits of Solar Energy

Sustainability has been a fundamental tenant of the food cooperative movement since it began, and not only in terms of selling organic, sustainably-harvested food. Co-ops around the country are also turning to renewable energy. For the Astoria Co-op on the Oregon coast, that… [Read More]
CooperativesRenewable EnergySolar Energy

Straw Bale Homes More Than a Dirt-Cheap Option

In Moab, Utah, Community Rebuilds literally takes dirt-cheap sustainable, highly energy-efficient materials to build affordable homes. With assistance from USDA Rural Development’s Mutual Self-Help program, individuals can apply to build a natural self-help home. After a… [Read More]
Homeownership
The Trenton Volunteer Fire Department's new firehouse was dedicated in October 2020. USDA Rural Development invested $1 million into the new facility.

USDA Rural Development and Trenton VFD Team for Continued Success

People driving through the town of Trenton, North Carolina, are seeing a new building right off the downtown area. With the assistance of $1 million in grants from USDA Rural Development the town’s new fire station was officially opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in… [Read More]
Community Facilities
Solar Array

Practicing Sustainability on the Eastern Edge of Glacier National Park

In 2017, after years of planning, Sanford and Claire Stone realized their dream and broke ground on Park Cabin Company in Babb, Mont., an unincorporated farming and ranching community in Glacier County. Their modern cabins are located on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and… [Read More]
BusinessREAPSolar Energy

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