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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: 84 Stories
Image of people in a boat

Working Together for Change on Spruce Head Island: Maine Oyster Company Goes Green with REAP Grant

Entrepreneurs must weigh every potential expense carefully. This is certainly true for Krista Tripp, owner of a lobster business and commercial oyster farm on Sprucehead Island, ME. Her company, Aphrodite Oysters, markets its fresh seafood directly to consumers and through area… [Read More]
Maine
BusinessEnergyEntrepreneurLocal FoodsRenewable EnergySmall BusinessSolar Energy
Image of sign of Meadville, Pennsylvania

Engage Your Community With Investment Cooperatives

What can you do to bring economic development to your rural communities? Is it possible without large corporations or out of town investors that may not understand the needs of your community? Perhaps your community should consider investment cooperatives.Local organizers in… [Read More]
Pennsylvania
BusinessCooperativesEconomic DevelopmentRural DevelopmentSmall Business
Rattazzi's Locker staff

Any way you slice it, meat lockers remain vital to rural communities

A dream was realized in 1990 when Nowell “Shorty” Hofer began construction on Shorty’s Locker and retail store on the edge of Mitchell. When Shorty passed away from cancer in 2021, he left a hole in the community and an uncertain future for the local meat locker. Devin and… [Read More]
South Dakota
BusinessLocal FoodsSmall Business
photo from common grounds cooperative website

Finding Common Ground: A Community Economic Development Project

Traverse City, Michigan is a rural community on the shores of lake Michigan. A city with a strong year-round recreation economy and a vibrant downtown filled with independent businesses. Many business owners have struggled to locate commercial space, as well as retain employees… [Read More]
Michigan
BusinessCooperativesEconomic DevelopmentRural DevelopmentSmall Business
Robert and Andrea Nickels in the Hardware Hills Vineyard tasting room.

Uncorking New Business Growth with Broadband

Hardware Hills Vineyard is located about five miles from downtown Scottsville but might well be in the middle of its namesake river when it comes to network connectivity. Owners Andrea and Rob Nickels spent their first 10 days on the property without internet and had to schedule… [Read More]
Virginia
BroadbandBusinessSmall Business
Greens grow in rows in a vertical greenhouse.

Green energy: photovoltaic array powers growth of Alaskan produce business

During a good year, Alaska’s outdoor growing season is three months for most lettuces and herbs, so providing greens for a community year-round is a feat in itself. Doing so sustainably is another challenge entirely! In 2018, innovator Henry Krull and his family decided to… [Read More]
Alaska
BusinessEnergyLocal FoodsLocal ProduceREAPRenewable EnergyRural DevelopmentSmall BusinessSolar Energy
Todd Spady stands next to a vehicle in his family business

Spady Buick Pontiac gets a Good Deal with REAP

Spady Buick Pontiac GMC, Inc. is a family business through and through.  Owner Todd Spady speaks fondly of learning the car business from his uncles and happily describes how his own children are involved in the business on the main throughfare in Holdrege, Nebraska. To… [Read More]
Nebraska
Small Business
Jen Young and Jessica Heesacker show off the Farm to Family Coop in Hay Springs, Nebraska

Farm to Family: A Labor of Love

In Hay Springs, Nebraska, customers stream into the Farm to Family cooperative grocery store. Kids in swimsuits looking for a snack, farmers grabbing a cold drink, and parents picking up the last items for dinner come and go from the little store on main street.This scene is the… [Read More]
Nebraska
BusinessCooperativesEnergySmall Business
William French standing near produce in his farmers market.

Streamlining Farm Operations in Cumberland

William French’s family farm has been in continuous operation for more than a century, so each generation has had a front row seat for subtle shifts in the agricultural landscape of Central Virginia. Though a lot had changed since his great-great grandfather first grew tobacco… [Read More]
Virginia
BroadbandBusinessSmall Business
Barry and Max McFarland

Mac's Creek: Building a Legacy in Lexington

Mac’s Creek Winery and Brewery in Lexington, Nebraska is a family business in more ways than one. The business has grown from the seed of an idea conjured up by Max and Theresa McFarland over twenty years ago to a thriving business, brewery, winery, event space, and source of… [Read More]
Nebraska
BusinessSmall Business

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