U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Https

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock () or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

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…
Read More

Find Stories

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

Search Results: 35 Stories
From left to right, Autumn Vogel, a cooperative developer at Keystone Development Center; Aliquippa Food Co-op team members: Carla McCoy; Tamu Gilbert, director of the Darrelle Revis Foundation; Mary Alice Gettings, educator with Penn State Extension Beaver County; Dave Slebodnik, owner of Sprout Project Management and Big Table Urban Farm in Beaver Falls, Pa.; Tyrone Patillo, principal with Premier Developments LLC.

Cooperative Partnership Increases Equitable Access to Healthy Foods in Western Pennsylvania

Former high school athlete Tyrone (Ty) Patillo of Aliquippa, PA, has community service in his blood. His father was the first minority firefighter in the community. Ty continues the family tradition of giving back. His dedication to helping his hometown led him to look for… [Read More]
Pennsylvania
CooperativesLocal Foods
Aerial view of OSU South Centers in Piketon, Ohio.

Partnership Helps Rural Cooperatives Thrive in Appalachian Ohio

The Ohio State University (OSU) College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) Center for Cooperatives, based at the OSU South Centers in Piketon, Ohio, helps enhance quality of life by integrating teaching, research, and extension to support cooperatives with… [Read More]
Ohio
CooperativesEconomic DevelopmentEducation
A man stands against a porch railing with a long wood shed behind him. The roof of the shed is covered with solar panels. There is fall foliage in the background.

Marsh River Co-op Finds "the Easiest Way to Reduce Overhead Costs"

The Waldo County town of Brooks is located about half an hour from Belfast on the Penobscot Bay. It is a rural community with a population of about 1000 people. The store is located right downtown in a property that was recently donated… [Read More]
Maine
BusinessCooperativesEnergyFood SupplyLocal FoodsLocal ProduceREAPSmall BusinessSolar Energy
Two men stand next to a green sign that says Plateau

Rural Development Grant Helps ReConnect Rural New Mexicans

Over seventy-five years ago, a group of rural New Mexicans banded together to create Eastern New Mexico Rural Telephone Cooperative. The group wanted to provide telephone service to rural eastern New Mexico. The cooperative is now known as Plateau. Its cooperative area covers 25… [Read More]
New Mexico
BroadbandCooperativesHigh Speed InternetInfrastructure
tri county prez

Harvesting Connections: USDA & Tri-County Co-Op

A few miles off the interstate, tucked in the middle of the state in Hightstown, New Jersey, the Tri-County Co-op Auction & Market stands as a daily testament to community spirit and agricultural dedication.Established in 1933, this bustling market has been a mainstay for… [Read More]
New Jersey
Cooperatives
Poultry house interior and vacant Tyson Foods lot.

Exploring FAIR Markets for Virginia Agricultural Products Through Cooperatives

Successful partnerships can be found in just about every industry, but the ones that support agriculture are a unique breed because they ultimately benefit everyone in rural communities. In Virginia, one highly effective collaboration has been helping groups of farmers operate… [Read More]
Virginia
Cooperatives
man and woman stand next to each other with mountains in background

ReConnect Program Brings High-Speed Fiber Internet to Southeastern New Mexico

You might not expect to find high-speed internet in remote mountain areas with gravel roads, but you will soon find exactly that in southeastern New Mexico in the Peñasco Valley Telephone (PVT) Cooperative, Inc., service area.The large area that PVT covers is extremely rural.… [Read More]
New Mexico
BroadbandCooperativesHigh Speed Internet
Brick buildings with many windows line a street in Montana. A clock tower is seen in the background.

Co-Op to Bring Local Food to Butte

After the closure of two grocery stores in Butte, Montana, community leaders grew increasingly concerned about the limited availability of fresh and local food. In 2021, a group of these leaders initiated the Butte Food Co-Op, with the goal of better connecting the community to… [Read More]
Montana
CooperativesLocal FoodsSmall Business
Maine Flower Collective photo by Gina Bartholomew with Left to Right, Courtney Mongell, Melissa Law, Andrea Ault, Michelle Jones, Mary Lou Hoskins, Carolyn Snell

Maine Flower Collective blooms and grows after first year

In a world where imported blooms typically dominate our bouquets and arrangements, there remains a healthy demand for local, seasonal flowers in Maine. Ranunculus, Lisianthus, dahlias, and hydrangeas are popular for being the beautiful workhorses of flower designs, but they don’… [Read More]
Maine
CooperativesEconomic DevelopmentEntrepreneurLocal ProduceMade in Rural AmericaRural DevelopmentSmall Business
A group of Start.Coop's incubation and acceleration cohorts

Start.Coop Launches Market-Ready Start-Ups by Scaling Out

Cooperatives for a Better World, a Manchester, NH, nonprofit known as Start.Coop, knows that there is no easy path to entrepreneurship. Its innovators—using extensive backgrounds in education, housing, agriculture, finance, social justice and other essential sectors that thrive… [Read More]
Vermont and New Hampshire
Cooperatives

Additional Success Stories