Meet Vicki Beckendorf, a longtime resident of Odin, Minnesota. In 1998, she and her husband fell in love with their charming farmhouse, built in 1912. Over the years, however, the house began to show its age, revealing a growing list of repairs and updates that needed attention.  

The City of Loveland, Ohio, gathered on a sun-drenched autumn morning to celebrate the groundbreaking for its new fire station. 

Local leaders and community partners, led by Loveland Mayor Kathy Bailey, donned helmets of Fire Station 63 and took ceremonial shovels in hand to signal that construction of a new, state-of-the-art fire station was ready to begin. 

Of the 4.6 million veterans living in rural areas, one is Rural Development of Louisiana's Area Office Director and Army veteran Larry D. Geraldson. Larry served his country for over 21 years in both active and reserve military service, including three combat tours of duty in the Gulf, Afghan, and Iraq wars.

There’s no doubt about it – feeding a large family can be expensive. When U.S. Army Veteran Ryan Dennis and his family realized how much beef they were consuming each year, they knew they needed to get creative.

“We were going through two and a half cattle per year. We thought we should look at processing for ourselves to offset some of the costs,” said Ryan.

But the family quickly realized the tools and storage would be very expensive. That’s when Ryan’s dad found an ad for a local producer wanting to hire a butcher.

Inspiration can strike at the most unlikely times. For Trey Hendrickson, it struck when he was returning from deployment in Afghanistan. He had, what he recalls as ‘the best cup of coffee’ he’d ever had. It was a taste of home.

Mucci Farms is a large greenhouse with 75 acres of growing space not far from the shores of Lake Erie in Huron, Ohio, and provides the ideal growing environment for the nearly 12 million units of tomatoes and cucumbers it produces annually. 

For people living in rural communities, the crucial need for connection to the online community can often be a hit-or-miss proposition. Modern goods and services of the information age have proven an essential part of everyday life for those who live in areas where a doctor’s appointment or run to the store can take up the entire day. Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom (NEK) is one of five national Rural Economic Area Partnership (REAP) zones, meaning it has Congressional recognition as economically underserved, and as a result, is eligible for special funding.

For people living in rural communities, the crucial need for connection to the online community can often be a hit-or-miss proposition. Modern goods and services of the information age have proven an essential part of everyday life for those who live in areas where a doctor’s appointment or run to the store can take up the entire day. Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom (NEK) is one of five national Rural Economic Area Partnership (REAP) zones, meaning it has Congressional recognition as economically underserved, and as a result, is eligible for special funding.

What makes a place what it is? Not just any place, but a good place? Somewhere people recognize, think about, talk about, hope for, travel through, travel to, work in, and live in?