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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: 893 Stories
Donnell Family

A White House, not “the White House”, With a Beautiful Yard

The Joe & Danielle Donnell family have been living in their new home, a white house with a porch and a beautiful back yard with a running creek next to it, for nearly nine months now.   “We feel blessed to have a place where our family can grow together,” said Joe… [Read More]
South Dakota
Housing
Members of Virginia Housing Development Authority, Surber Development LLC, and USDA Rural Development Virginia gather to cut ribbon at Lily Ridge Apartments ribbon cutting ceremony.

Affordable Housing Celebrated

USDA Rural Development national office employees applauded the completion of Lily Ridge Apartments in Ruckersville at a ribbon cutting ceremony and open house in early November. The ceremony celebrated the development of affordable rental homes that can house nearly 50 families… [Read More]
Virginia
HousingMulti-Family
AYUDA Receives Grant for Commercial Kitchen

AYUDA Receives Grant for Commercial Kitchen

The Adults and Youth United in Development Association, Inc. (AYUDA) is a bilingual, grassroots, non-profit corporation founded in 1992 for the purpose of advancing and bettering the quality of life of El Paso County’s low-income individuals and families.  The organization… [Read More]
Texas
Local Foods
Being an example in clean energy

Being an example in clean energy

Lunch time at E&S Mart in Altavista, Va., hums. A steady tide of customers and deliveries keeps the gas pumps ticking, the grill hot and the register open. Most of the faces are familiar ones. Many make small-talk over one of the high-top tables in the deli. Some will be… [Read More]
Virginia
REAPSolar Energy
Paul Bunyan Communications Staff

Bringing Home the Broadband in Rural Minnesota

Paul Bunyan Communications, based in Bemidji, Minnesota, has taken advantage of the RUS Telecommunications Broadband loan program to build-out a high speed broadband network covering their entire service area. Their goal of connecting every institution, every business, and every… [Read More]
Minnesota
Broadband
USDA financing is helping a local telephone cooperative utility company bring high-speed broadband service to rural Appalachian Virginia

Broadband in the Mountains

In today’s digital age, broadband Internet access seems like it’s just about everywhere on everybody’s personal electronics and smart phones. In rural Edwards Ridge in Dickenson County, VA, however, the Appalachian Mountains are a physical barrier that has made… [Read More]
Virginia
Community Connect
Broadband Service Changing Lives in Rural Tennessee

Broadband Service Changing Lives in Rural Tennessee

  North Central Telephone Cooperative (NCTC) recently completed construction of more than 1,000 miles of Fiber To The Home (FTTH) facilities making broadband service available to approximately 14,000 households, 951 businesses, and 48 strategic institutions. … [Read More]
Tennessee
BroadbandCommunity ConnectTelecommunications
Building a Village to Provide Excellent Care for Seniors

Building a Village to Provide Excellent Care for Seniors

In 1982, after suffering from a farm accident, Helen Scott was sent from her Oklahoma farm to Asbury Park’s Rehab House in Newton, Kan. Initially, therapist thought it would take Scott up to a year in the Rehab House to recover from her injury. In one month, Scott was back on… [Read More]
Kansas
Community Facilities
picture of girl in new home

Building Ladders of Opportunities Homeownership

Making homeownership an affordable reality for rural Coloradoans is an important goal at USDA Rural Development. By helping build equity and increase assets, homeownership provides a critical step on the way up the ladder of opportunity. Recently, Brittany Trujillo, purchased a… [Read More]
Colorado
Homeownership

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