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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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Search Results: 769 Stories

Energy Efficiency Improvements for Northport Grocery Store

High energy usage is a widely recognized concern when operating a grocery store; lighting, compressors, heating, cooling all have a negative impact on the bottom line. John and Rhonda Wentworth, the owner’s of Wentworth Family Grocery in Northport, were determined to increase… [Read More]
EnergyREAP
Chad Mortensen outside his variety store

Energy Efficiency Improvements Increase Longevity of Small Business

Chad Mortensen is a third-generation owner and operator of Marion’s Variety shop and restaurant in Roosevelt, Utah. Chad’s great aunt Marion Mortensen opened the business in 1933 after emigrating from Denmark. Over a span of 36 years Marion changed locations along the main road… [Read More]
Renewable EnergyEnergy
Thermal image of a home

Energy Efficiency Loan – Vermont Energy Investment Corporation

The Vermont legislature created an Energy Efficiency Utility named Efficiency Vermont as a full-service utility providing those services to all ratepayers.  Under this structure, utility ratepayers can reduce their energy use by investing in energy improvements for their… [Read More]
ElectricEnergyRenewable Energy

Energy Efficient Sewer Treatment Coupled with Environmental Balance

The Milton Regional Sewer Authority (MRSA) needed to improve and expand their existing sewer treatment plant. The Pennsylvania Department of  Environmental Protection (DEP) mandated that all communities in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed comply with new lower standards for… [Read More]
WastewaterWater
Picture of Esterbrook Apartments

Esterbrook Apartments Facelift Nears Completion

By the time the Wyoming Housing Network, Inc. (WHN) purchased the Esterbrook Apartments in August 2010, the twenty-unit complex in Riverton, Wyoming was dire need of renovations. Even worse, the 33-year old complex was at risk of losing its rental support from USDA Rural… [Read More]
HousingMulti-Family

Everyday Superheroes in North Dakota

 In rural North Dakota, high speed Internet isn’t a luxury; it’s a necessity.  Just ask Tracey Koester. Tracey used to commute to Bismarck, ND for work. It was a 56-mile journey one-way, and she did it 5 days-a- week, for 17 years. Tracy and others have used high speed… [Read More]
Community Connect
rural development mississippi, women in agriculture, mississippi delta southern rural black women, clarksdale, coahoma county

Expanding a Business One Sweet Potato at a Time

The Mississippi Delta Council for Farm Workers Opportunities, Inc. received $91,138 through the Rural Business Enterprise Grant (RBEG). They are proposing to install a commercial kitchen with processing equipment to support the growth of a small emerging business – the… [Read More]
GrantsSmall Business
Marie’s Café in McGill, Nevada

Expansion in Microlending Aids Startups, Extends Capital to Rural Markets

Rural Nevada businesses needed capital, but banks were unwilling to make small- or medium-sized loans.  In particular, loans were not being offered to Nevada’s emerging business communities. How Rural Development Helped: In September 2010, USDA Rural Development … [Read More]
RMAP

Family Business Grows into Success

Little did PJ Jonas know when she began making goat milk soap in 2006 that her project would develop into a career that she, husband Jim, and their eight children would soon share. Because of her desire to not use chemicals on the children’s skin, PJ wanted a natural soap that… [Read More]
Value Added

Federal, State and Local Partnership Brings Farmers Market to Life

Town of Ashland City Mayor Richard Johnson was concerned about the sagging agricultural economy and lack of facilities for their Farmers Market.  Reaching out last year to state and federal partners the Town of Ashland City received a USDA Rural Development Rural Business… [Read More]
Know Your FarmerLocal FoodsLocal ProduceSustainable/Organic Foods

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