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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: 71 Stories
TLC is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

Celebrating Cooperative Month with The Local Crowd Cooperative

The Local Crowd Cooperative (TLC Cooperative) has a new ring to it. Thanks to a grant from USDA Rural Development, The Local Crowd (TLC) is transitioning its organization to a national member-owned cooperative. For nearly 10 years, The Local Crowd has worked with rural… [Read More]
Wyoming
BusinessCooperativesGrantsRural Development
Four smiling men stand together on a dock next to the water. There is a building on the shore in the background.

Preserving Seafood Heritage by Bringing in the Next Generation

McClellanville is a small town in rural South Carolina whose economy relies heavily on commercial fishing and seafood production. Unlike other coastal towns in South Carolina, McClellanville has kept its working waterfront from developing into high-end residential property,… [Read More]
South Carolina
CooperativesLocal FoodsRural Development
A woman looks up at the damage in her ceiling. Boards are being used to prop up ceiling sections.

There’s No Place Like Home

Sandra was born and raised in the rural town of Greenwood, Mississippi, but wanted more excitement in her life. She moved to Los Angeles in her early 20’s and loved it, but she got terribly homesick for her family every time she called home. In 1999, she followed her heart home… [Read More]
Mississippi
Home RepairHousingRural Development
A women standing in her house with her arms held out at shoulder height to show how dipped her roof is. It sags in the middle where she stands.

Singing in the Rain

Doris is a retired nurse who has lived in her home in Greenwood, Mississippi for 42 years. When USDA Rural Development (RD) and the Delta Design Build Workshop (Delta DB) visited her in late January 2022, her home’s kitchen ceiling beam sagged down so low that she could touch it… [Read More]
Mississippi
Home RepairHousingMental HealthRural Development
A smiling woman stands on the roof of a house and watches while works fix the roof.

Preserving History in the Delta

The small town of Greenwood in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, once nicknamed the “Cotton Capital of the World,” has seen its share of success, but that was a long time ago. When cotton cultivation and processing became mechanized in the early 20th century, thousands of… [Read More]
Mississippi
Home RepairHousingRural Development
Women putting a blanket in the washing machine while looking at an electrical box above the washer that has no cover and is a nest of wires leading into the fuses. It looks very unsafe.

RD, RPG and Delta DB: a Great Team!

Retired schoolteacher and great-grandmother Rutha was due to turn 80 years old the day after she welcomed USDA Rural Development (RD) and the Delta Design Build (Delta DB) Workshop to her recently repaired home in Greenwood, Mississippi in late August 2022.  Last year,… [Read More]
Mississippi
Home RepairHousingRural Development
Greenwood, MS Sign

The Art of Hope

In January 2022, retired correctional officer Willie led USDA Rural Development (RD) specialists through her pitch-black, frigid home in Greenwood, Mississippi. Her three-room house had no permanent electricity, running water, plumbing, or interior finishing. In her bedroom, icy… [Read More]
Mississippi
Home RepairHousingRural Development
Brian and Catherine Bartunek family with Rural Development staff outside home

Bartuneks Become Homeowners After Long Journey

Buying a house can be a daunting process for anyone and it’s easy to become discouraged or overwhelmed, but for one South Dakota family, perseverance paid off for their long journey to home ownership. Brian and Catherine Bartunek wanted a place to call home for their three… [Read More]
South Dakota
HomeownershipHomeownership Month 2022HousingRural DevelopmentTribal
Solar panels being installed

Home repair loan helps family drastically cut electric bills

Keeping the electric on was crippling the Maggard family. Electric bills ranging from $300-$600 per month ate up the majority of the family’s fixed income. HOMES Inc., one of Rural Development’s strong housing partners in Eastern Kentucky, led a project combining funding… [Read More]
Kentucky
EnergyHome RepairHomeownershipHousingRural DevelopmentSolar Energy
St. Luke's Carbon Hospital

Carbon County Gets a New Hospital

Carbon County Pennsylvania opened the doors to its newest hospital in 65 years on November 21, 2021. The trauma-4 facility is expected to treat about 50,000 emergency care patients a year, thanks to a $98.5 million Community Facilities direct USDA loan investment for the… [Read More]
Pennsylvania
Community FacilitiesHealth CareRural Development

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