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

Search Results: 140 Stories
Butte Housing Groundbreaking

Building a Place to Call Home in Rural Montana

As sounds of city traffic fill the air, an obscure vacant lot at a busy intersection in uptown Butte is showing signs of life. Newly excavated foundation preparations dot the landscape. Water and sewer pipes emerge from the ground, signaling the coming of a neighborhood where… [Read More]
Homeownership
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]
African AmericanHomeownershipHomeownership Month 2023Housing
Bobbie Grubb's community becomes cooperative-owned with the help of NCF.

Rural Wisconsin Community Embraces Cooperative Homeowner Model

In 2016, Bobbie Grubb’s manufactured housing community in Wisconsin converted to a cooperative-owned model, a move that would afford residents the power to control what happens in their community for the first time. Manufactured communities, or mobile home communities, provide… [Read More]
CooperativesHomeownershipHomeownership Month 2023
A woman stands outside her home in Nevada.

Persistence Pays Off for New Nevada Homeowner

As too many Americans experience, a huge rent increase caused Un Lee to be displaced from her apartment. She found herself homeless, living in whatever hotel she could afford. Un realized it would be easier to buy a home then continue to sink money into trying to find a rental.… [Read More]
HomeownershipHomeownership Month 2023Housing
Bob and Mary Ann Volk outside their remodeled home in Herreid, SD.

Herreid Homes Have New Hope After Rehab

Bob and Mary Ann have lived in the same home for over 55 years. The couple raised their six children here and they all attended the same school in Herreid. But over the years the home has needed updates and eventually those updates were too difficult for Bob and Mary Ann to take… [Read More]
Home RepairHomeownershipHomeownership Month 2023HousingUnderserved
A kitchen with counters, cupboards and a stove

A Family, A Home, And An Education: How Laura Got it Done

Right on the banks of the Mississippi River, Camanche, Iowa, boasts of a long history of small town life. With the big river so close, scenic views are everywhere. With larger cities nearby, education and employment opportunities are within reach. “Camanche is a grassroots… [Read More]
EducationHomeownershipHomeownership Month 2023Rural Development
Linda Lawson on the front porch of her Wytheville, Va., home.

Putting Home Repairs in the Picture for One Wytheville Resident

You won’t find too many people who love their new roof as much as Linda Lawson. The shiny blue metal sheets not only appeal to her artistic sensibilities but also give her a greater sense of security as a barrier from the storms of life. The freelance photographer was already… [Read More]
GrantsHome RepairHomeownershipHomeownership Month 2023
A woman and her son stand outside their newly purchased home, holding a giant key.

A Home for Anya

Anya Lindsey is a single mother with two young children, one of whom is autistic. Anya was living with her parents and sharing just one bedroom with her sons. As she experienced a change in circumstances which came with a little extra income, she hoped to use it to secure a home… [Read More]
HomeownershipHomeownership Month 2023Housing
Cora Suzette Lee on the front porch of her new home.

Rebuilding a Family and Community Legacy in Northampton County

While Virginia’s Eastern Shore is known for its majestic sunsets, beaches and rural country living, a short drive off the main roads of Northampton County reveals a persistent poverty area dotted with aging homes that residents have little or no means to repair. Many properties… [Read More]
HomeownershipHomeownership Month 2023HousingUnderserved
Richard Smith stands on the porch of his new home in Elkins, West Virginia.

West Virginia Man Achieves Dream of Homeownership with Assistance From USDA

It was 2019, Richard Smith was unemployed and had just lost everything he owned in an apartment fire. To say Smith was down on his luck was an understatement but his two children provided him with the motivation to pick himself up and turn his luck around.  “It’s just me… [Read More]
HomeownershipHomeownership Month 2023Housing

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