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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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Find Stories

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

Search Results: 122 Stories
Stretching Critical Repair Dollars 2

Stretching Critical Home Repair Dollars

Neighborhood Strong is a community-based organizations serving nine East Texas Counties. They provide critical home repairs and accessibility modifications to low and very low-income homeowners. Over 57% of the homes in this area are over 40 years old. The poverty rate is just… [Read More]
Texas
Housing
Patrick Johnson in front of his USDA Self-Help home

From Renter to Homeowner: Patrick's Path to Homeownership

Patrick Johnson had always envisioned a day when he could own a home, but he felt that it was beyond his reach due to his circumstances as a renter. However, during a conversation with a close friend who resided in a USDA self-help home, Patrick became aware of a program that… [Read More]
Indiana
Housing
The Village

USDA Helps Mustard Seed Village Cultivate Change: A Greenhouse Model Blossoming with Community Engagement and Elder Care Innovations

Rural seniors often desire to age in their communities, surrounded by familiar faces and places. However, with fewer healthcare providers, professional caregivers, and young people compared to urban areas, rural communities face challenges in caring for their aging residents.… [Read More]
Washington
Housing
A woman with a bag walks towards the door of a newly built childcare center.

Lasting Legacy: How a Vision for Childcare Was Built in Griswold, Iowa

Since 1869, the Noble Center United Methodist Church stood on a hill at the corner of Highway 71 and Victoria Road in Noble Township, Cass County, Iowa. Four years ago, the last remaining members gathered. “We had to make final decisions on where and how to gift the remaining… [Read More]
Iowa
Community FacilitiesFirst RespondersGrantsHousingRural Development
A woman stands in front of a white house with a metal railing

New Teacher Buys a Home: Kailee Invests in Jasper County, Iowa

Not many college students graduate with a bachelors degree and purchase a house within two years. Kailee Meyer in Jasper County, Iowa, achieved her dream of home ownership with help from a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development home loan program.… [Read More]
Iowa
HomeownershipHousing

Norris Family Fixer Upper

Gary and Debra Norris are your typical retirees. They spent almost 15 years renting houses in a local single family housing development so they could enjoy the amenities available in the Crossville, Tenn. area. After renting several houses over the years, they decided it was… [Read More]
Tennessee
Home RepairHomeownershipHousing
Kayla Bruce with her three daughters

Partners providing possibilities

When Kayla Bruce relocated from Florida with her three daughters, now 14, 11 and 2, she moved her family into a two-bedroom apartment in the north central community of Leola. Over the past two years, she got involved in the community and her daughters into sports. But as time… [Read More]
South Dakota
HomeownershipHousing
Picture of a yellow house in rural Nebraska

USDA Rural Development Proud to Support Veteran Marine

USDA Rural Development is proud to support United States Veteran Marine Roy Oliver through the Single Family Housing Repair Loans & Grants Program.  Mr. Oliver served in the Marines guarding supplies of ammunition.  Today, he is happily settled in Fairbury,… [Read More]
Nebraska
Home RepairHousing
Montana MFH Specialist Natalie Plummer and Sage Apartment owners Robbie Carpenter (C) and Vince Winterhalter (R).

Two Generations Partnering with USDA on Affordable Housing in Rural Montana Town

The Sage Apartments is a 12-unit multi-family housing complex that provides quality, safe, and affordable housing for eligible seniors and persons with disabilities in a rural Harlowton, Montana. “With the ongoing housing crisis, there are limited options in rural communities,… [Read More]
Montana
Housing
Francis & Nicole Badibanga in front of their new home with their four children

Hope Restored Through Hard Work and Perseverance

In Salem, Utah, the reality of homeownership is finally a dream come true for Francis Badibanga and his family of six. Francis achieved this dream by working with a local self-help program, putting in hundreds of hours of sweat equity to bring down the price of his new home, and… [Read More]
Utah
HomeownershipHomeownership Month 2023Housing

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