Northern Circle Indian Housing Authority (NCIHA) provides affordable housing services, including housing counseling to Native American households in the rural Ukiah, California area. Dana Novoa, NCIHA’s sole housing counselor, travels as far as Butte County, a three-hour journey one way, to provide services for Tribal families.

Utilities in Lake County, California, have proven resilient in the face of adversity during the past several years. Wildfires have consistently posed the largest, but not the sole, threat. The summer of 2019 marked the first Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS), creating a new set of challenges for small 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.

In a time of crisis, new partnerships emerge to provide payroll relief—As of late June, $8.1 million in loans were distributed to 76 borrowers like United Cerebral Palsy, and CDFIs like Communities Unlimited that also operate in rural America. RCAC estimates that these loans have saved more than 1,295 jobs.

On the Zuni Tribe Reservation in New Mexico, a construction project that was years in the making is near completion. A Zuni family will own and operate Major Market, a local marketplace. About 85 percent complete, the market will open in June “no matter what” according to the owner, Darrell Tsabetsaye.