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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: 177 Stories
Fairbanks Museum interactive sensory installments

Mass Timber Takes Off at the Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium

Since Naturalist Franklin Fairbanks opened the doors of the Fairbanks Museum in St. Johnsbury, Vermont in 1891, it has been a popular place of learning and wonder for thousands of visitors. In 1961, the Museum built the state’s first public planetarium, and in 2018 began a… [Read More]
Vermont and New Hampshire
Community Facilities
Logo for Appletree Rensselaer, Indiana

Appletree Rensselaer: Bringing Smiles to Little Faces in Indiana

USDA Rural Development awarded a Community Facilities Grant worth $133,200 to a childcare center in Rensselaer, Indiana. This grant will fund Appletree Rensselaer, a licensed childcare center providing services to 72 children between six weeks and five years old. The center will… [Read More]
Indiana
Community FacilitiesEducation
Jonesborough K-8 Elementary School Ribbon Cutting

Happy Holidays Jonesborough!

On Friday, December 15, 2023; we made Christmas wishes come true for more than 1,100 K-8 students, faculty, and staff at Jonesborough K-8 Elementary School. The elementary school hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony for a brand new 147,000 square foot K-8 school. The Town of… [Read More]
Tennessee
Community Facilities
Rosenwald School

Transforming St. George Rosenwald School: A Tale of Community Grant Impact

Introduction In the heart of rural Dorchester County, South Carolina, nestled a short distance from the hustle and bustle of Charleston, stands the historic St. George Rosenwald School. Once a beacon of education for African American students during the segregation era, this… [Read More]
South Carolina
Community Facilities
Side view of Alberta VFD pumper

Showstopping Pumper Elevates Efficiency and Safety of Alberta Emergency Responses

Hand-me-downs are a right of passage in many large families but aren’t a great approach to public safety in rural communities. The Alberta Volunteer Fire Department was making do with engines procured from nearby communities when the nonprofit decided to pump the brakes on… [Read More]
Virginia
Community FacilitiesFirst Responders
With the assistance of a $113 thousand USDA Rural Development Community Facilities Grant, The Pamlico Rose Institute is helping female Veterans by promoting wellness and building resilience through their various programs, activities and events. Rural Development’s investment was used to restore The Barn. This structure is being used for community events and workshops including woodworking, visual arts, crafts and yoga classes.

Rural Development Assisting Female Vets Down East

Tucked away off the main throughfare in Washington, North Carolina, The Pamlico Rose Institute, with the assistance of USDA Rural Development, is helping female Veterans by promoting wellness and building resilience through their various programs, activities and events.With $113… [Read More]
North Carolina
Community Facilities
Photo of a freshly paved East Washington Street in Gillett, Wisconsin

City of Gillett Paves the Way for State Highway Reconstruction

Whether we like it or not, orange barrel season is right around the corner in Wisconsin. Roads across the state will soon come under construction and orange barrels will pop up like bulbs in the garden. Depending on the type of project, communities can prepare in advance… [Read More]
Wisconsin
Community FacilitiesInfrastructureWater
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
Cane Bay Fire Station

A Significant Milestone for the Community

Whitesville Rural Volunteer Fire Department has received $3,300,000 through the USDA Community Facilities Direct Loan & Grant Program to construct the new Cane Bay Fire Station in Berkeley County's Cane Bay community. Berkeley County, known for its rapid growth, houses over… [Read More]
South Carolina
Community Facilities
The Moulton volunteer fire department station with the US flag flying in front of in lies along the main street in town.

Moulton, Iowa, Modernizes Fire Department

In the southernmost tier of Iowa counties lies the quiet town of Moulton in Appanoose County. Far from an urban area, the town, population 607, is small, but offers several convenient services along Main Street. The local telecommunications company, Moulton city hall, and a… [Read More]
Iowa
Community FacilitiesFirst RespondersHigh Speed Internet

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