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Success Stories

A mother and three daughters pose around a dining room table. There are lace curtains and blue wall in the background and some dishes on the table in the foreground.

“This is Home” – A Family Finds Their Forever Home in Calais, Maine

One of the first rooms Heather Gagne and her daughters began redecorating in their new home is the dining room, shown in the top photo. They have been busy repainting and making other updates. Raising a family in coastal Machias, Maine may sound lovely, but for Heather Gagne recent years proved stressful. There were few housing options in the Downeast community, and Heather was glad to find a rental home to…
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Use the filters below to find additional stories about how our programs have helped rural communities across the nation.

Search Results: 888 Stories
Freund's Farm shares information on renewable energy project

Replacing a Relic to Keep a Community Market Growing Strong

Connecticut’s Farmington River has long been known for its scenic beauty and recreational opportunities but has recently gained some renown as the state’s oldest archaeological site. While artifacts uncovered on the banks near Avon offer insights into the lives of ice age… [Read More]
Connecticut
Renewable Energy
Kira and Tim, owners of Black Dog Farm, in Livingston MT

Four Chickens and a Dream Hatch into Successful Montana Poultry Farm

Named to honor a beloved family pet, an adopted black Lab-Border Collie mix, Black Dog Farm originally started with four chickens and a dream and has since grown into a successful woman-owned rural small business on a 35-acre homestead in the hills near Livingston, Montana.… [Read More]
Montana
Business
Printing press at Midstates Group in Aberdeen.

Doing more with less

If you’ve picked up a program at a major sporting event, subscribed to an agriculture magazine, or used a workbook while studying, chances are good that Midstates Group printed it right here in north central South Dakota. This business has clients that reach coast-to-coast and… [Read More]
South Dakota
BusinessGrantsREAP

Norris Family Fixer Upper

Gary and Debra Norris are your typical retirees. They spent almost 15 years renting houses in a local single family housing development so they could enjoy the amenities available in the Crossville, Tenn. area. After renting several houses over the years, they decided it was… [Read More]
Tennessee
Home RepairHomeownershipHousing
Cow

Reimagining Manure to Create New Markets for an Abundant Resource

Nutrient management is a major concern for America’s dairy farmers, but they can’t always have a serious conversation about it with people who aren’t in the industry. In fact, one Connecticut farm has found the path to producing a new product from composted cow manure to be… [Read More]
Connecticut
Value Added
Brian Sinclair holds state shaped cutting boards

Worker-Owned Cooperative Preserves Rural Jobs in Wisconsin

With three months until the business was closing, the employees at Bemis Manufacturing were up against the clock. The owner of the wood manufacturing business was reaching retirement and needed to sell, a move that would close a 100-year-old operation and threaten the workforce… [Read More]
Wisconsin
Cooperatives
Unionville Vineyards GM John Cifelli crushes grapes for wine

‘Sustainability should hurt’: Making wine without the whine

The drive up to Unionville Vineyards in Ringoes, New Jersey can be a tricky one. Patches of forest and sprawling farmland bound winding roads that lead to a natural, inclined driveway up to a rustic tasting room. In the summer, it’s hard to find a more picturesque setting. In… [Read More]
New Jersey
Energy
Common Enterprise Staff

Worker Cooperative Model: Empowering Workers & Creating Community

Thomas Beckett and his team are passionate about what they do. Beckett’s resilience and persistence broke ground in North Carolina in 2012 when they opened Carolina Common Enterprise. Opening the center was a culmination of Beckett’s work as an attorney which exposed him to… [Read More]
North Carolina
Cooperatives
Dr. Katherine Parks, DVM, member of Harlowton Rodeo Committee who spearheaded grandstand project.

Preserving History in a Rural Montana Community

Built in 1910, the rodeo arena at Chief Joseph Park in Harlowton, Montana, stands as an enduring monument to agricultural life and is a frequent gathering spot for residents of this small town nestled on the plains near central Montana’s Judith Mountains. From rodeos to funerals… [Read More]
Montana
Community Facilities
Kayla Bruce with her three daughters

Partners providing possibilities

When Kayla Bruce relocated from Florida with her three daughters, now 14, 11 and 2, she moved her family into a two-bedroom apartment in the north central community of Leola. Over the past two years, she got involved in the community and her daughters into sports. But as time… [Read More]
South Dakota
HomeownershipHousing

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