CHAMPAIGN, IL, March 5th, 2025 - Homeownership has become an increasingly difficult achievement for many Americans. Will County resident, Candace, was recently able to achieve her dream on Feb 27th, 2025, thanks to a collaboration between four organizations: USDA Rural Development, Will County Habitat for Humanity, Will County Land Use, and the Illinois Housing Department Authority.

This project is to construct and operate the Liberty Reciprocating Internal Combustion Engine Project (Project) in Casey and Marion Counties, Kentucky. The Project would include construction and operation of an approximately 214-megawatt (MW) net reciprocating engine power plant, a new asset that is necessary to meet projected load demand and support the integration of increased amounts of intermittent renewable energy generation on the EKPC system.

Cyber-attacks on public water and wastewater systems endanger public safety and national security.  Rural utilities are increasingly vulnerable to cyber threats, which can jeopardize the integrity of water distribution and treatment processes.  Small water utilities serving populations of 10,000 and below very often feel they don’t have the resources or don’t know where to find those resources to help them with the cybersecurity of their facilities.

Rural communities and small towns could teach master classes in creative problem solving for operating on tight budgets and stretching scarce resources.  

“This is my favorite part,” said StartUpNV Director of Marketing Rukshana Hussain. 

Outside, the sounds of traffic dominate the sweltering Vegas heat, but inside the Nuwu Art Community Center there’s a silence as rural and Tribal entrepreneurs hang on to Hussain’s every word. 

She asks the group for their ideas, their dreams and aspirations for their startups-to-be or, for those already with fledgling startups, their goals for the future.

A hand is raised immediately. The answer?

Aaron Mallory’s ties to his community are as strong and rich as the brews available in his Waynesboro coffee shop. He created the upscale, yet cozy, cafe to be a third space between work and home where his neighbors can experience the highs and lows of life together. 

“Coffee is really exciting, but connection is our main mission,” says Mallory. “We started brainstorming names and wanted to go with something that would be easy to remember with roots in positivity and goodness. Happ is the Nordic root of words like happy, happenchance, happening.”

You could say that music is in Rob Seal’s DNA. His granddad was a bluegrass musician from Russell County who took him to picking parties every summer, and his brother is a professional guitar player in Nashville. Seal took up the instrument at an early age and possesses the most important skills for opening a music store … passion for playing and talking to people.