RCD Securing Safe Water On Site in Lowndes, Alabama
The Rural Community Development (RCD) program provides funding, training, and technical assistance to partners like Communities Unlimited, Inc., the southern partner of the Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP), to establish clean and efficient water and wastewater systems in rural communities like those found in Lowndes County Alabama. On site visits to the work being done in these communities helps RCD and Communities Unlimited understand the urgency and importance of clean water for all families and individuals.
CSBG: Enhancing Home Accessibility for Older Americans in Alaska with RurAL CAP
Elders from St. Mary’s, Alaska are achieving greater freedom and comfort in their homes thanks to the innovative Senior Access Program from the Rural Alaska Community Action Program (RurAL CAP). Supported by the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) funding, RurAL CAP offers essential, adaptable, and durable access ramps in communities while also applying other improvement programs, like weatherization assistance. This highly efficient process leverages multiple funding streams to achieve far-reaching impact in communities across Alaska. Older Americans are empowered to participate in, lead, and preserve vital community events and traditions with these vital modifications to their homes.
CSBG & LIHEAP Weatherization Assistance in Alaska
Increasing the energy efficiency of your home can reduce costs year-round. It can also help maintain safe and healthy living conditions for older adults, young children, and persons with disabilities. Watch to learn how RurAL CAP blended and braided Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) funds to support weatherization efforts in rural St. Mary’s, Alaska.
Bilingual Childcare Center Supports Rural Community in Ellsworth, Maine
When rural families have access to child care, they have a path out of poverty. Learn how childcare entrepreneurs funded through a Community Economic Development (CED) grant to Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI) are providing this crucial service. Through participation in CEI’s Child Care Business Lab, childcare entrepreneur Thania Hernandez hired six staff members at her bilingual, nature-based child care center, Mis Primeros Pasos (My First Steps) in Ellsworth, Maine; providing a safe learning environment for local children and helping parents get back to work.
Helping Working Families with Flexible Childcare in Kingfield, Maine
Child care in rural Maine is hard to come by, and without it, parents and caregivers cannot work. Learn how childcare entrepreneurs funded through a Community Economic Development (CED) grant to Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI) are solving this problem.
RCD Spotlight: Restoring Flood Damaged Water Systems in Rural Kentucky
The Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) and Community Action Kentucky used Rural Community Development (RCD) funds to work with community leaders in southeastern Kentucky to restore vital water and wastewater systems in areas affected by historic flooding.
CSBG Impact on California’s Drought Stricken Communities
This video highlights the impact of Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) funds on sustained efforts to connect rural communities to municipal water systems, alleviating systemic water access issues due to historic droughts. This story shows how the local Community Action Agency for Tulare County, CSET, was able to address the immediate need in 2017 and, over the intervening years, leverage CSBG funds with a variety of partners to connect their rural residents to clean and affordable water.
Using GIS Tech for Water and Wastewater Systems Improvements in Corsica, SD
The small town of Corsica, South Dakota needed to update its outdated water and wastewater systems — but was facing some tricky challenges. With the help of a Rural Community Development (RCD) grant, the Midwest Assistance Program (MAP) assisted this rural community in using technology like GIS (geographic information system) to manage their assets and make major system improvements that benefited the entire community.
Federal LIHWAP Program Aids Water Utilities: A Kentucky Highlight
This video highlights the important services LIHWAP provides in Kentucky in interviews with utility providers and program administrators.
Building Capacity for Clean Water Assurance in Mora County, NM
Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC) used Rural Community Development (RCD) funds to train and build capacity of staff working in the Mora County Water Alliance in New Mexico. Using economies of scale to increase knowledge and streamline practices helped water system staff to meet compliance, receive funding, and ensure safe water for their communities.
OCS On Site: Live-to-Tape Site Visit to Ellendale, Delaware
Over 2 million Americans lack consistent access to water and wastewater systems. Join Lynda Perez, Director of the Division of Community Discretionary and Demonstration Programs (DCDDP) within the Office of Community Services (OCS) on a live-to-tape site visit with Rural Community Development (RCD) grant recipient South East Rural Community Action Partnership (SERCAP) in Ellendale, Delaware. Lynda visits with both residents and water service providers to learn more about the challenges of water delivery in rural, unincorporated areas. Supported by RCD funds, SERCAP is working diligently to ensure that all community members have consistent and reliable access to water and wastewater services.
OCS On Site: Live-to-Tape Site Visit to Lowndes County, Alabama
Over 2 million Americans lack consistent access to water and wastewater systems. Join Dr. Lanikque Howard, Director of the Office of Community Services, on a live-to-tape site visit with Rural Community Development (RCD) grant recipient Communities Unlimited in Lowndes County, Alabama. During her time in Lowndes, Dr. Howard visits homeowners with septic and straight pipe sewage systems in states of disrepair. Without functioning sewage systems, the residents of Lowndes are living with raw sewage in their backyard, which leads to the spread of illness and disease. Supported by RCD funding, Communities Unlimited is working hard to ensure all residents of Lowndes County have strong, functioning sewage systems in their homes.
Increasing Wastewater Treatment Access in Broad Top, Pennsylvania
RCAP Solutions has assisted Broad Top, Pennsylvania with building wastewater treatment facilities and increasing access to clean water for more than 20 years. RCAP Solutions used Rural Community Development (RCD) funds to provide technical assistance to the community, which helped the town win grant competitions and subsequently take on more projects to ensure clean water and safe wastewater services.
Creating Meaningful Employment with Supportive Services in West Virginia
Learn how Coalfield Development Corporation helps boost the local economy in the coal communities of West Virginia. Through a Community Economic Development (CED) grant, Coalfield Development Corporation created Mountain Mindful apparel company to create job opportunities, growth opportunities, and support services for people who experience barriers to employment such as incarceration and substance use. The company provides employees with “power, purpose, and potential,” while creating sustainable apparel and promoting a diversified economic future in Appalachia.
Creating Quality, Career-Focused Jobs in Oklahoma
Learn how Rural Enterprises of Oklahoma, Inc. supports families and business growth in rural Oklahoma. Through a Community Economic Development (CED) grant, REI-Oklahoma supported OmniCare365, to expand and remodel its call center space to create 150 new job opportunities for individuals with low income who can grow their careers in a very rural community with a primarily manufacturing-based economy.
Southeastern Kentucky Economic Development
Learn how Logan Corporation provides new business and high-quality jobs for individuals with low income who lost their jobs as mining closed in their community. The Logan Corporation is supported by Community Economic Development (CED) grantee, Southeastern Kentucky Economic Development Corporation, to pivot to meet the changing needs of this energy community.
Building Opportunity and Hope Through Adult Care in Kentucky's Appalachia
Learn how Horizon Adult Health Care meets the adult and elderly care needs of the community as well as creates jobs in an energy community where jobs were lost due to the closing of local coal mines. Horizon Adult Health Care is supported by Community Economic Development (CED) grantee, Kentucky Highlands Community Development Corporation, to grow their business to serve more adults and employ more individuals with low income.
Empowering Individuals by Addressing Barriers to Employment in Westmoreland County, PA
Learn how Community Economic Development (CED) grantee, Westmoreland Community Action (WCA), uses its grants to support American Architectural Salvage, a demolition and material re-sale business. American Architectural Salvage employs individuals who face barriers to employment such as substance abuse.
Extending Sewer Service to over 30 Households in Magnolia, Mississippi, Population 2,000
With an RCD grant, Communities Unlimited, Inc. supported the City of Magnolia, with leadership by the Mayor, to extend sewer service to the North Street area that the city annexed. About 34 households were connected to the sanitary sewer system with this extension project, which helped with not only environmental health and sanitation but residents’ overall quality of life and value of their properties. Communities Unlimited, Inc. provided technical assistance to low-income communities to achieve outcomes of improving public health, improving financial sustainability, improving environmental health, improving managerial capacity, and achieving compliance with environmental regulations.
Improving New Boston, Ohio’s Ancient Combined Sewer System
Small communities like the Village of New Boston, Ohio, strive to protect the health of the community, but due to circumstances such as small staff or missing expertise may find themselves facing deteriorated sewer systems. Great Lakes Community Action Partnership (GLCAP) assisted the Village with obtaining funding and developing the expertise needed to improve its sewer system. The Rural Community Development Program (RCD) helped the community decrease the inflow of excess water into the sewer system, remove combined sewer overflow violations and work toward EPA compliance, and engage in negotiations to obtain principal forgiveness and low interest loans to manage fines associated with non-compliance.
Technical Assistance Brings Reliable Public Drinking Water to Hobson Village, Virginia
Due to unsafe drinking water with extremely high levels of fluoride, residents of Hobson Village, Virginia, could not rely on their community’s water source. In 2017, with and RCD grant, the Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project (SERCAP) provided the technical assistance needed to help the community understand the options available to them for connecting ot safe water, leverage funding for construction, and guide the community through a large project to finally connect safe water to the Village.
Training Certification for the Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT) to Ensure the Health of the River
For the Colorado River Indian Tribe (CRIT), located along the Colorado River on the Arizona-Colorado state border, “the health of the people depends on the health of the river.” With RCD funding, the Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona (ITCA) helped CRIT establish a water system on the reservation, supported a regional wastewater system—jointly operated by the CRIT nation and the town of Parker, Arizona—and implemented the tribal operator training and certification program, which uniquely meets the tribe’s need for sustained career development opportunities in the water and wastewater field.