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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: 769 Stories
Jaimee Souksan and her two kids were able to realize the American dream of home ownership with the help of a USDA Rural Development loan in Nebraska.

Souksan Family Realizes the American Dream in Nebraska

Homeownership, for many, it’s the ultimate American dream. However, it can be difficult to achieve in a challenging economy, especially for those of limited means, but it is not impossible. In 2020, Jaimee Souksan made the dream come true for her family of three when she… [Read More]
HomeownershipHousing
football2

St. Helena College and Career Academy: Touchdown Loan

St. Helena College and Career Academy in rural Greensburg, Louisiana is home to the Mighty Hawks. In the small parish of 11,000, football is one of the main ways that the community comes together, and St. Helena is their only public high school. But, St. Helena's previous… [Read More]
Community FacilitiesEducationRecreation
Native American statue on IAIA Campus

Advancing Artistic Expression

The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) is located just a few miles southwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Located on 140 acres in Santa Fe it is arguably one of the best locations in the state for an art school. To put it simply the place is inspiring. The campus is in a… [Read More]
Community FacilitiesEducationTribal
Sylvia Hancock with Mountain TOP and USDA RD Representatives

Peace, Love, and Harmony

A continuous partnership between USDA Rural Development and Mountain T.O.P. has helped more than 300 families in the Cumberland Plateau with much needed home repairs. Mountain T.O.P. has received a total of 12 Housing Preservation Grants  to help qualified very-low and low… [Read More]
Home Repair
Staff from Back Yard Farms hold packages of apple chips that were just produced and ready for sale using the freeze-drying method.

What a great idea, how come nobody thought of this before?

The workers at Backyard Farms in Vado, New Mexico have barely begun another day of freeze-drying produce when another truck carrying hundreds of pounds of apples arrives to deliver its load.  Since Backyard Farms began freeze drying food it’s become a beehive of activity.… [Read More]
Value Added
A baby in a basket sits on a table next to a board game and a wine glass. Behind them, family and friends gather on green grass beneath a blue sky for what appears to be a picnic or some kind of gathering with tables and umbrellas.

RiverCrest Ranch Finds Community, Opportunity in USDA Grant

RiverCrest Ranch has always been a place worth sharing. Nestled in Oregon's Applegate Valley, the ranch's 11 and a half acres still hold the remnants of an 1870s hydraulic gold mining operation and "the best swimming hole on the Applegate River," according to owner Cathy Rodgers… [Read More]
BusinessGrantsLocal FoodsRecreationSustainable/Organic FoodsValue Added
Woman in front of cows

From Cow to Cone, Wright's Dairy Farm Sees Delicious Success

For over a hundred years, Wright's Dairy Farm, in North Smithfield, Rhode Island, has been providing the community with fresh dairy products. The five generation farm has been growing and innovating, adding a retail bakery specializing in whipped cream cakes, custard desserts,… [Read More]
Local Foods
Girl leads a cow

Hastings Farm’s Robotic Milking System will Run on Power of the Sun

Five generations strong, Hastings Farm is a multi-generational dairy farm located in Suffield, Connecticut. In addition to corn silage and hay, the family farm milks Holsteins and Jerseys, and processes a variety of dairy products including milk, yogurt, and cheese. They also… [Read More]
Energy
Little Leaf Farms Energy Power

Little Leaf Farms Grows Green while Going Green

Pictured above: Maintenance Manager Steve Case with the input hookups for the chiller outside the greenhouse. The cooling manifolds that are fed by the chiller are just inside the greenhouse. Paul Sellew, a founder of Backyard Farms, had mastered the growing and… [Read More]
Energy
Teachers from several schools in Johnston County, NC, participate in training utilizing Distance Learning equipment purchased through USDA Rural Development.

USDA Assists Rural H.S. Students Earn College Credits

Once Upon a Time, a student had to graduate high school before attending college. Now with the assistance of a $499 thousand Distance Learning Telemedicine Grant from USDA Rural Development students in Johnston County, North Carolina, may be well on their way to completing an… [Read More]
Distance Learning

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