Bruce Jones, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development South Dakota Acting State Director recently recognized Kenneth Lynch for 25 years of dedicated service to the federal government. Lynch began his federal career in 1984 and started with Rural Development in 1998.
“Kenneth is a team player on the Rural Housing Staff,” said Jones. “He works hard, and adapts well to change, especially overseeing the conversion of the Guaranteed Rural Housing paper application processing to a computer program based application reporting system. This has been a process improvement for the agency – what used to take three to four hours now is a 15-30 minute processing time.” Lynch recently received a Teamwork Appreciation Award for his work with the housing program in the tri-state area of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota.
Lynch is currently a Single Family Housing Specialist in the Aberdeen Office. His previous experience includes working for the U.S. Army (101st Airborne), Indian Health Service, and Forest Service.
“I feel fortunate to be a part of the home ownership process. Over the years, I have approved over 14,000 loans in five states over a seventeen year time frame. Home ownership has a lasting effect on families and communities,” said Lynch. “On a daily basis I come in contact with lenders, realtors, brokers, city officials, county entities, and the general public. It is humbling knowing all the lives I have touched in a positive way.”
Lynch is inspired most by one of his role models who is an African American nurse who was his supervisor for the Indian Health Service. Lynch said, “This woman was amazing, caring, understanding and she had an innate ability to teach. Her commitment and passion to aid Native American youth was unmatched and I learned a lot from her.”
Lynch resides in Aberdeen and has one grown son. He is a Native American Artist and in his free time enjoys riding his Harley Davidson motorcycle, golfing, and basketball.
USDA Rural Development in South Dakota has offices in Aberdeen, Huron, Mitchell, Pierre, Rapid City, Sioux Falls, Watertown, and Yankton. For more information, visit the USDA Rural Development website at http://www.rd.usda.gov/sd.
The Administration’s plan for rural America has brought about historic investments and resulted in stronger rural communities. These investments in housing, community facilities, businesses, and infrastructure have empowered rural America to continue leading the way – strengthening America’s economy, small towns, and rural communities. USDA’s investments in rural communities support the rural way of life that stands at the backbone of our American values.