Success Stories Archive

RCAC’s programs and services deliver solutions to complex community needs. Our local presence allows us to develop partnerships with communities to identify needs, set goals, and select the best options to meet those goals. RCAC and our partners provide the tools to create change and growth, but the communities chart their own course. Collaboration, plus community effort will equal community change. How can we help you?

RCAC’s Loan Fund is a financial resource for rural communities. The Loan Fund fills financing gaps and serves in unconventional markets. We offer loans for affordable housing development, environmental infrastructure, community facilities and small businesses in rural locations.

Decent housing, safe drinking water, education, financing, jobs, community facilities, leadership, families are the many facets to RCAC's work.

RCAC expands the knowledge base of the rural public through education and training. Our training expertise is in technical, financial, and administrative issues that affect rural communities. We take great pride in our professional trainer team's capacity and effectiveness. Our trainers maximize audience participation to keep trainings relevant and memorable.

RCAC's news and publications are a compilation of timely news, announcements and accomplishments produced for the rural development world.

Founded in 1978, RCAC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides training, technical and financial resources and advocacy so rural communities can achieve their goals and visions. For more than 40 years, our dedicated staff and active board, coupled with our key values: leadership, collaboration, commitment, quality and integrity, have helped effect positive change in rural communities across the West. Learn more about who we are and how we operate.

Success Stories

Success stories are a compilation of staff written success stories and case studies that highlight our impact in rural communities.

Friday, Jul 24, 2020

Fires, disasters create new realities for water systems

Northern California, with its thousands of acres of forests and dozens of small towns tucked away, has become ground zero for wildfires year after year. Rough terrain and isolated communities present unique challenges for firefighting operations. The 2018 Camp Fire was the deadliest in California history, causing massive destruction in the town of Paradise.
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Tuesday, Jun 30, 2020

Bank of America grant funds PPE kits for water and wastewater operators in the rural west

A generous Bank of America grant is allowing Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC) to procure and distribute personal protective equipment (PPE) to rural water and wastewater systems.
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RCAC joins collaborative effort to distribute cloth masks

As the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other agencies developed plans to address the COVID-19 pandemic, Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC) joined a major endeavor to distribute hundreds of thousands of cloth facemasks to water and wastewater operators in Arizona, California and Nevada.
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In a time of crisis, new partnerships emerge to provide payroll relief

Like most small businesses, the United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) of San Luis Obispo considered March on track to be a typical month. The thriving nonprofit organization has provided critical community services for California’s central coast since 1987. Over time, it expanded services to people with a range of developmental disabilities beyond cerebral palsy.
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Monday, Jun 15, 2020

Self-help perseveres through pandemic

Grit, commitment and unity have always been cornerstones of the self-help housing program and the families who participate. Now more than ever, these characteristics are showing through. Families are coming together while staying apart, continuing, though volunteers are not, building their own places to shelter and persevering through the pandemic.
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Success Stories

Fires, disasters create new realities for water systems

Bank of America grant funds PPE kits for water and wastewater operators in the rural west

RCAC joins collaborative effort to distribute cloth masks

In a time of crisis, new partnerships emerge to provide payroll relief

Self-help perseveres through pandemic