b'Dear friends,Its hard to believe that we celebrated our 40thnew water/wastewater systems. Our Building anniversary this past yearmy 11th year as CEO.Rural Economies staff members are working We are approaching the end of our five-yearwith five Tribes to build an entrepreneurial cul-Strategic Plan, and continue to achieve signif- ture on their Reservations and Pueblos. icant progress in lending, affordable housing,The fund development team raised more than environmental and economic development. This$23 million to support the organization. The progress has led to growth, and we hired moreEvents team managed more than 300 training than 20 new staff in the past year, includingevents that provided 8,000 individuals with three new directors and a controller. 50,000 training contact hours.Heres a look at some key achievements fromAs we move forward, there is still much work to 2018: be done. Homelessness is at an all-time high, RCACs Loan Fund closed 41 loans totaling near- too many communities do not have safe drink-ly $50 milliona new high in both categories ing water, and many rural towns are struggling in all 13 states in our service area. Staff madeto survive. Creating opportunity and sustain-34 household water well loans and grants. Theable infrastructure in rural America is not easy, Loan Fund also manages the 502 packagingbut with your help we are demonstrating that program, which approved 93 loans and it can be done. We are bringing new resources closed 38.to the communities who need them most and, In our housing development department, wemore importantly, we are making sure that closed the Kunia project, an eight-year endeav- those resources have the desired outcome or in Hawaii; started construction on Courtyardvibrant, healthy and enduring rural communi-Apartments with CAP Northwest Montana; ties throughout the West. and secured Low-Income Housing Tax Credit It is truly an honor to be the CEO of such a financing for two additional projects in Mon- dynamic organization with a committed board tana and Utah. Our housing counseling staffand staff. The staff is passionate about their members are training housing counselors allwork, and the results they achieve show their across the country, and our U.S. Departmentcommitment to making a difference. Thank you of Agriculture Rural Development Mutualto our local and national partners for their col-Self-Help Housing groups in the western U.S.laboration and commitment to the people we accounted for 70 percent of the new homesserve, and as always, thank you to our funders constructed under the program nationwide.who make our work possible.RCACs community development and water,Sincerely, wastewater and solid waste services staffStanley Keasling, CEOconducted 50 rate studies and 100 household income surveys in most of our region. We are starting a new Tribal Circuit Rider program through our Environmental Finance Center work in U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys Region 10, which builds on our Region 9 effort. We helped 25 small communities secure more than $50 million in funding to upgrade or build RCAC 2019 Annual Report|1'