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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: 767 Stories
The Bailay Family

Commuting Time Can Make the Difference in Buying a Home

Cody and Amber Bailey and their daughter Savannah were living in a house in Milligan, Nebraska that Cody had bought before he got married.  The house was a real fixer upper and Cody didn’t have the funds for the repairs.  Amber is a new stay at home mother and Cody… [Read More]
Homeownership
Vernetta Le Grand and Cayla Hilbrands

Energy Efficiency Improvements Enhance Shopping Experience

The R&B Food Center located in Wessington, South Dakota is the only grocery store located in the community with a population of  177. Vernetta LeGrand has owned and operated this local grocery store since 1987. Having a grocery store  is critical to community… [Read More]
REAP
Photo: A new solar energy production facility in the small, unincorporated community of Dairy, Oregon, is benefiting the community and a local farm.

Shining a Light on Solar Energy Benefits for Rural Farm, Community

A farm in the very small, rural community of Dairy in southern Oregon had a parcel of high elevation land that was hardly worth the effort to plant. The  low soil quality and poor irrigation made the land suitable for hay production and nothing else. More often, the field… [Read More]
Renewable EnergySolar Energy
The Tangeman Family

Look at Those Homeownership Smiles!

  Rebecca Tangeman and her three children had resided in the home she owned in Topeka, Kansas for 10 years. Due to transitions, she moved to Norfolk, Nebraska in the summer of 2013 back to the roots of where she grew up and had also been a graduate from Wayne State College… [Read More]
Homeownership
Photo: A mother with a fixed income was able to complete critical repairs to her house with help from a local nonprofit and a USDA grant.

Vital Repairs Help Mother, Daughter Remain in their Home

Maria no longer felt safe in her own home, where she lives with her daughter, Margarita, in rural Malheur County in eastern Oregon. Wind blew in through the cracks around the windows, and water leaked through the roof. But with her low monthly income, Maria could not afford… [Read More]
Home RepairHousing
Photo: After growing up in foster care and homeless, Mendiola was finally able to purchase her first home with assistance from Rural Development.

A Journey from Generational Homelessness to Homeowner

“My journey to homeownership was not easy,” said Mendiola. It wasn’t just saving up the money, improving her credit, or finding the right lender. Mendiola had never lived in one place very long. She grew up in foster care and is a trafficking survivor. “I ended up on the streets… [Read More]
Housing
Sherry Morgan Event Group Photo

Crow Creek Sioux Tribe Reservation Member Becomes First Time Homeowner

Sherry Louise Morgan is an enrolled member of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe.  She has worked hard for two years to obtain her dream  of not only homeownership  but to complete this dream on her mom and dad’s leased land where she lived as a young girl.  In… [Read More]
HomeownershipHousing
NVhomeowner

Rural Nevada Teachers Can "Live the Dream" of Homeownership with USDA Loans

Rural teachers are heroes. Working tirelessly to educate children and youth, they should not have to worry about where they live after an invigorating day at work. Yet in many areas of rural Nevada, rental inventory is low and sometimes expensive. That's where a USDA home loan… [Read More]
Homeownership
Photo: The nonprofit REACH helped Rosa Cortes secure a job that can accommodate her disabilities.

Creating a Path to Employment in Rural Areas for People with Disabilities

Rosa Cortes was struggling to find work in the rural town of Klamath Falls in southern Oregon. She volunteered at Good Will to build her experience, but found her disabilities made employers reluctant to offer her a job. Rosa has ankylosing spondylitis, a hereditary form of… [Read More]
Business
Photo of downtown Hood River, Oregon, in the Columbia Gorge

Fueling Wage Growth, Business Expansion in the Columbia Gorge

Rural businesses on both sides of the Columbia River—from a brewery to an assisted living facility, from a Thai restaurant to a tribal fish market—are improving the local economy by hiring more employees and providing higher wages. These myriad small businesses have one thing in… [Read More]
BusinessSmall Business

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