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.

Sub-standard housing and poverty are commonplace in low-income rural communities. Many of these communities also face daunting challenges to access safe, clean drinking water and to develop other vital infrastructure. These issues are often overlooked in policy because rural communities lack the resources, training or social networks that are found in urban areas. Learn how you can advocate for the under-served population in the West.

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.

Monday, Dec 16, 2019

Self-help housing where it’s least expected

Prior to working as a general contractor on Bainbridge Island since 1986, Ted Francis worked in construction for 22 years in Alaska. He knows his way around a jobsite. So, how did Ted find himself building a home with the self-help housing program all these years later, now in his 70s?
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Wednesday, Nov 20, 2019

A week in the lives of Hawaii circuit riders

Circuit rider programs are unique in RCAC’s world. Unlike project based technical assistance programs, the circuit rider program employs a team of locally based circuit riders that travel from community to community to target work one-on-one with local utility operators.
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Thursday, Sep 19, 2019

RCAC loan helps restaurant owners realize their dream

Hawthorne, Nev. – Western Nevada, with a desert patch landscape that gives way to bare mountain slopes for miles and miles, is known for something unique and even record-breaking.
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Wednesday, Sep 18, 2019

The Gateway Program helps small Planada business owner with homeownership readiness

Antonio and Erica Rodriguez could not believe it when a friend told them that Self-Help Enterprises was building in Planada. They were excited and knew this could be their chance at homeownership, at last.
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Tuesday, Jul 30, 2019

Working together to preserve affordable housing

Kalispell, Montana – By many accounts, this lush, pastoral expanse of the United States may be the country’s most stunning. Serene, picturesque Flathead Lake to the south and Glacier National Park to the north attracts tourists year-round, such that Flathead County is expanding in both population and labor force. But all of this growth has unfortunately not translated into more homes for this burgeoning population.
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Success Stories

Self-help housing where it’s least expected

A week in the lives of Hawaii circuit riders

RCAC loan helps restaurant owners realize their dream

The Gateway Program helps small Planada business owner with homeownership readiness

Working together to preserve affordable housing