Success Stories

In rural South Dakota, tribal members often lack access to higher education courses and facilities.  Students living on the 1,900-square-mile Rosebud Indian Reservation and the 11,000-square-mile Oglala Lakota Sioux Indian Reservation, for instance, struggle to travel long distances to reach the… more

Oglala Lakota College (OLC) partnered with  USDA Rural Development in 2015 to enhance program accessibility in underserved rural areas and communities.  Through a coordinated effort, workshops were held in three reservation communities to provide information and technical assistance for RD… more

For rural communities, it’s all about the ongoing challenge of creating and maintaining jobs.  In Seymour, Texas, the city’s Community Development Corporation decided to utilize Rural Development’s Rural Business Enterprise Grant program to stimulate the City’s business sector.  The initial… more

The Adults and Youth United in Development Association, Inc.

North River Boats has been producing recreational, commercial, and government boats and providing high-wage jobs to the residents of Roseburg in southwestern Oregon since 1974. During the height of the recession in 2009, however, the company was placed into receivership. There was a high… more

  The RUS Electric Program recently established a loan program to help electric cooperatives reach out to consumers and businesses. In a News Release dated October… more

As a part of the local food movement, the main goal of the “Farm to Institution Movement”, which is an initiative of the Farm to Institution New England non-profit organization, is to bring locally grown food and products into schools, colleges, health care and other institutions in the… more

Hydroelectric power RUS Electric Program approved $73 million in loan funds to finance ETEC’s R. C. Thomas Hydroelectric Station (R.C. Thomas Station), formally known as the Lake Livingston Hydro-electric Station, located near the City of Lake Livingston in Polk County, Texas.… more

RUS Electric Program has provided loan funds in the amount of $20 million for a renewable energy solar project, which is USDA’s largest solar project to date. The loan to Montgomery Solar, LLC, will help build a 20 megawatt Solar Farm located in Briscoe, NC. “It will occupy about 120 acres of… more

Biomass RUS Electric Program partnered with borrower, East Texas Electric Cooperative, Inc. (ETEC) in order to fund the recently completed Woodville Woody Biomass Project located near Woodville Texas. Woodville is a 49.9 MW carbon neutral renewable energy facility that will burn… more