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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 their 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: 769 Stories
Charles McGaa

Finally a Homeowner

“As a kid, I moved around a lot and never really had a home to call my own,” said Charles McGaa, new homeowner. Through a USDA Rural Development 502 Direct Loan, careful planning and support from Oglala Sioux Tribe Partnership for Housing, McGaa’s dream of owning his home own… [Read More]
Housing
usda rural development, rural development mississippi, homeownership, single family housing direct loan program

First-Time Home Owner at the Age of 81

At the age of 81, Ms. Gertrude Overstreet and her son Willie Overstreet are the proud owners of a brand new home. Mrs. Overstreet rented her last home for more than 30 years. The condition of the house was inadequate to say the least, and particularly inadequate for Mrs.… [Read More]
Housing
Quest Montessori School

Funding to Help the Expansion of Rural School

Providing necessary and quality education in rural communities is important to create ladders of opportunity for the future generations. Following up on this mission, in 2009 USDA Rural Development gave the Quest Montessori School a $2.4 million Community Facilities loan to… [Read More]
Community FacilitiesEducation
sparks fly as this welding student works

Funding to Technical Colleges Brightens Employment Outlook

Graduates of Vocational and Technical education programs have a cutting edge advantage in today’s competitive job market. They are equipped with specific skills for joining the workforce and their specialized knowledge gains them quality, well-paying jobs. USDA Rural… [Read More]
Community Facilities
USDA funds Greenhouse Cape Cod

Funds Help Build Greenhouse for Nauset Regional Middle School

The Nauset Regional Middle School in Cape Cod, Massachusetts currently has a three-year-old seasonal greenhouse that complements an indoor wet lab where fish and plants are grown. Currently, students are only able to use the greenhouse for a small part of the school year as the… [Read More]
Community FacilitiesEducation

Geothermal Fueled Residence Hall

Outline Of Need: West Chester University is a public university with 15,415 students and 800 academic employees in West Chester, Pennsylvania (Chester County). Demand for student housing is very high, the existing university housing is near full capacity, and much of it is old… [Read More]
Community Facilities
USDA

Grant for Second Phase of Bio-Energy Research

Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology, Inc. (CCAT), a non-profit economic development organization, was awarded a Rural Business Enterprise Grant (RBEG) to work on Phase II of a project that will determine the feasibility of implementing an alternative fuels facility in… [Read More]
Economic Development

Grant Provides Rural Hospital With Cutting Edge Technology

A $300,000 Distance and Learning  Telemedicine Grant from USDA Rural Development has provided a rural Gonzales hospital with cutting edge radiology technology not usually available in rural Texas hospitals. With the equipment upgrade, the Gonzales   Hospital… [Read More]
Distance Learning
GROW South Dakota Staff

GROW South Dakota 2015 Bush Prize Winner

Recently, GROW South Dakota was named one of eight 2015 Bush Prize winners for Community Innovation.  GROW South Dakota knows that a little help can go a long way. Through an innovative program that provides financial and technical assistance, GROW South Dakota has sparked… [Read More]
HomeownershipHousing
GSC Chipotle

GSC Chipotle Texas Receives Value-Added Grant

Gale Carr, GSC Chipotle Texas, Ltd. received a Value-Added Producer Grant in 2014. Working capital grant funds are being used to cover costs of labor, utilities, packaging, labeling, marketing, promotion and processing of rare and popular chile pepper cultivars. Carr and his… [Read More]
BusinessGrants

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