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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
FINE and USDA partnership

Rural Development Stands by the Farm to Institution Movement

As a part of the local food movement, the main goal of the “Farm to Institution Movement”, which is an initiative of the Farm to Institution New England non-profit organization, is to bring locally grown food and products into schools, colleges, health care and other… [Read More]
Local FoodsSmall Business

Rural Food Manufacturing Plant Finds Success with the Help of USDA

Intevation Food Group is a food manufacturing company focusing on the production of appetizers and potato products in Plover, Wisconsin. As a start-up company faced with a national recession, Intevation Food Group found it difficult to obtain bank financing to construct a new… [Read More]
BusinessSmall Business
Picture of South Big Horn Hospital

Rural Hospital Modernizes with USDA Rural Development

35 miles may not seem like a long distance, but when a Wyoming blizzard is blowing and the road is a sheet of ice, the delay could mean the difference between life or death. South Big Horn County Hospital in Basin, Wyoming carries the designation of a critical access hospital,… [Read More]
Community Facilities

RUS Electric Program Finances Energy Efficiency and Conservation Program Loans

  The RUS Electric Program recently established a loan program to help electric cooperatives reach out to consumers and businesses. In a News Release dated October 23, 2014, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that USDA had funded its first two loans under the… [Read More]
ElectricEnergyRenewable EnergyRural Development
R.C. Thomas Hydroelectric Station

RUS Electric Program Finances Hydroelectric Power

Hydroelectric power RUS Electric Program approved $73 million in loan funds to finance ETEC’s R. C. Thomas Hydroelectric Station (R.C. Thomas Station), formally known as the Lake Livingston Hydro-electric Station, located near the City of Lake Livingston in Polk County, Texas.… [Read More]
ElectricEnergyRenewable Energy
Woodville Renewable Energy Woodville, Texas

RUS Electric Program Finances Woody Biomass Power

Biomass RUS Electric Program partnered with borrower, East Texas Electric Cooperative, Inc. (ETEC) in order to fund the recently completed Woodville Woody Biomass Project located near Woodville Texas. Woodville is a 49.9 MW carbon neutral renewable energy facility that will burn… [Read More]
BiomassElectricEnergyRenewable Energy
Chocowinity Solar Project

RUS Electric Program Funds Largest USDA Solar Project to Date

RUS Electric Program has provided loan funds in the amount of $20 million for a renewable energy solar project, which is USDA’s largest solar project to date. The loan to Montgomery Solar, LLC, will help build a 20 megawatt Solar Farm located in Briscoe, NC. “It will occupy… [Read More]
ElectricEnergyRenewable EnergySolar Energy

Safe, Reliable Water Source Comes to East Henry County

After years of uncertainty about whether it was safe to drink their water or if there would be enough, residents in rural Eastern Henry County in West Tennessee will now have access to safe, reliable water.  Private groundwater well contamination and the lack of a public… [Read More]
UtilitiesWastewaterWater

Safety Ensured

Earlier this year, JoAnne Davis of Windsor, Vermont was startled by the shriek of her carbon monoxide detector. The local fire department responded, and discovered an easily fixed water heater ventilation issue had caused carbon monoxide to build up in the home. Luckily JoAnne’s… [Read More]
First Responders
REAP Program

Save Money Save Energy

South Dakota USDA Rural Development recently partnered with Black Hills Power and Light based in Rapid City, SD to host four outreach seminars that provided participants with information on Black Hills Power energy efficiency rebates and incentives, customer service programs and… [Read More]
EnergyRenewable Energy

Additional Success Stories