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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
Historical Society New Building

Helping to Preserve History One Piece at a Time

Knowing where you have been is vital to a rural community’s future. Having the knowledge and understanding of your history can help build the basis for a much greater appreciation of today. That sentiment was the foundation for the past four years of hard work done by the… [Read More]
Community Facilities
cheese products photo

Making Own Products is a Dream Come True for Small Rural South Dakota Business

In the spring of 2017, Chad Blase quit his full-time job to go back to work with his parents on their dairy farm. Within months, milk prices were sinking and Chad and his partner Laura Klock, along with Chad’s parents, Amy and Gary Blase, realized it was time to have some… [Read More]
Value Added
Sandhills Medical Center Groundbreaking

USDA Investment Will Help Low-Income Patients Have Access to Quality Healthcare in Rural South Carolina

A ground-breaking ceremony was held on June 1, 2021 for the expansion of the Sandhills Medical Foundation Inc. (SMF) facility located in Lugoff, S.C.  Local leaders and members of the Foundation gathered at the site to celebrate the official ground-breaking for the nearly… [Read More]
Community Facilities
Image of a Bridger aerospace bi-water scooper

Super Scoopers in the Skies

Montana's wildfire season came a little early this year, as a result of drier-than-normal and windy conditions. But, Bridger Aerospace (BA), a company based in Belgrade, Mont., was ready to answer the call with their two new CL-415EAF "Super Scooper" fire suppression… [Read More]
BusinessSmall Business
USDA Rural Development invested $248 thousand to assist with the expansion of their fire station. The 30 year old structure was not able to fit modern trucks and their equipment. The expansion will allow Calypso to fit the most up-to-date equipment to serve their community.

USDA RD Assists Expansion of Calypso Fire Department

The town of Calypso recently celebrated the expansion of two new bays to their fire station. As the Rural American town continues to grow so does their volunteer fire department of 32 people. Working with USDA Rural Development in North Carolina the town’s leaders secured a… [Read More]
Community Facilities
Johanna Diaz poses for a photo in front of her home that she built with the aid of the USDA Rural Development Self-Help Program.

Single mother builds first home for family through Self-Help Program

Johanna Diaz was a single mother living in an apartment when she got the opportunity to build her own home in Imperial, Calif. “It’s easy to buy a house, but to build it with your own hands – it’s amazing,” Diaz exclaimed. Diaz started building her home in January 2019 and… [Read More]
Rural Development

Petersburg's Newest Homeowners are all Smiles

The Carrillo family had outgrown their two-bedroom house and started to look for a home that was more accommodating to their needs.  Jesus and Jasmine had hopes to buy a house in Petersburg where they currently lived and had grown up.  The Carillo's had heard about the… [Read More]
Housing
Candice Hill photo

Homeownership Provides South Dakota Family with Security and Stability

Candice Hill is a single mother of three children. She was interested in pursuing owning her own home. Through the guidance and assistance received from T-Yamni, a one-stop homeownership program offered by Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate to tribal members, she was on the path to… [Read More]
Homeownership
Jan Riggins Photos

Living the American Dream of Homeownership in Aberdeen, SD

It was nearly ten years ago when Jan Riggins suffered a big financial loss with losing her business and her home. In that timeframe, she moved at least seven times from various rental properties because the owners either sold the homes or moved back to live in the… [Read More]
Homeownership
Alicia and her son, Sy, outside their new home

Central KY mom overcomes tough real estate market

Buying a house in the current market here in Central Kentucky requires a lot of patience and perseverance. Houses are often sold within a day or two of being listed, and gone are the days of negotiating the price down and having the seller pay closing costs. In the year plus… [Read More]
Homeownership

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