U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Https

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock () or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Success Stories

“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…

Find Stories

Use the filters below to find additional stories about how our programs have helped rural communities across the nation.

Search Results: 19 Stories
Valley telecommunications store front

Valley Telecommunications extends network to provide high-speed internet

Valley Telecommunications has been providing its members in the Herreid area with quality service for nearly 70 years. The Cooperative strived to deliver the high speed, reliable internet service to its members across McPherson, Edmunds, and Campbell counties. When an… [Read More]
South Dakota
Ryan Tanney, a worship pastor at a church in Pine Grove, California, stands in front of several screens, which are used to manage a live broadcast of Sunday services.

Making connections: bringing California’s rural central Sierra Nevada communities closer with high-speed internet

Mary West-Hutchinson, a real estate broker in West Point, California, was tired of commuting. She’d leave the tall rural pines of her home community and drive 80 minutes to the more densely populated Lodi for work. In addition, she was taking college courses, working toward her… [Read More]
California
woman splicing line of fiber

ReConnect Program Brings Opportunity to Rural Nevada Town

Brenda Dela Torriente twines the lines of fiber with precision. Her brows are furrowed as her fingers find the ridges between the cords, working them at an astonishing speed. It's a painstaking process. For the town of Montello, Nevada, it's also a deeply important one. Those… [Read More]
Nevada
A bearded man poses in front of a backdrop that says "GORiLLA LUBE" with industrial products on a table in front of him with orange labels.

Finding New Markets with USDA BioPreferred: Small Town Biobased Company has Outsized Impact on the Slopes and Ziplines of America

Scott and Kathie Lee are the founders of Gorilla Lube, based in Brownville, Maine. Scott Lee found his mission while still in college. At the time he worked for the Connecticut Department of Health inspecting public water supplies and… [Read More]
Maine
Cartersville Volunteer Fire Department helmet

Broadband Provides Vital Lifeline for Protecting Lives and Property in Cartersville

Volunteer fire departments are an integral part of the communities they serve, carrying on a proud tradition of neighbor helping neighbor in times of trouble. Each member is committed to maintaining readiness to respond to every call, but those working in rural communities like… [Read More]
Virginia
Robert and Andrea Nickels in the Hardware Hills Vineyard tasting room.

Uncorking New Business Growth with Broadband

Hardware Hills Vineyard is located about five miles from downtown Scottsville but might well be in the middle of its namesake river when it comes to network connectivity. Owners Andrea and Rob Nickels spent their first 10 days on the property without internet and had to schedule… [Read More]
Virginia
William French standing near produce in his farmers market.

Streamlining Farm Operations in Cumberland

William French’s family farm has been in continuous operation for more than a century, so each generation has had a front row seat for subtle shifts in the agricultural landscape of Central Virginia. Though a lot had changed since his great-great grandfather first grew tobacco… [Read More]
Virginia
Worker installing fiber line on an existing electric pole.

Transforming Lives and Livelihoods One Connection at a Time

It’s no coincidence that the Central Virginia Electric Cooperative (CVEC) named their internet subsidiary after a small, luminescent insect. The parallels between the push to power rural homes in the 1930’s and the challenge of bringing broadband to remote areas of the state… [Read More]
Virginia
Reel of Fiber in rural countryside.

ReConnecting Rural Residents to Reliable High-Speed Internet

High-speed internet used to be considered a luxury for many rural customers. When the pandemic hit, the need for reliable broadband service became a priority. Thanks to Rural Development’s ReConnect program, rural customers near Timber Lake now will have reliable internet… [Read More]
South Dakota
USDA RD's ReConnect program helped Lindsay's family access high-speed internet

Home Telephone Company Rings up ReConnect Success in McClellanville, South Carolina

Lindsay is a working mother in McClellanville, South Carolina, and like many people living in rural communities, lacking access to reliable, high-speed internet used to be a challenge that affected her entire family.   “Especially when the kids came home from school,… [Read More]
South Carolina