Wasilla, Alaska – Last year, Kolten Conan was scrolling through his Facebook page, and he happened upon photos of a house under construction. He already knew a thing or two about building homes: he’s now 21 and when he was just a little boy, he had scampered among laborers at construction sites around his hometown of Wasilla, fetching boards and helping out with seasonal work.

Oakland, Calif. – In 2008, collapsing home values addled Americans across the nation, bankers were drawing scrutiny and the stock market was collapsing. It was difficult to understand the cause and to know where to keep one’s investments safe.

Cedar City, Utah – The drive along Interstate 15, which meanders from the Mexican border in California to the Canadian border in Montana, can get plenty lonely. After 30 miles of virtually no services, there’s a reprieve: the well-stocked and clean convenience store and smoke shop, Cedar Band Trading Post, which the Cedar Band of Paiutes opened in 2012.

Sacramento, Calif. – Water justice advocates and environmental, health, rural and equity organizations thank the California Legislature for including emergency drinking water funds in the 2017-18 state budget to continue to chip away at California’s drinking water crisis.

West Sacramento, Calif. – In the quarter ending March 31, 2017, Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC) closed 20 loans totaling more than $6 million to assist rural communities in Arizona, California, Hawaii and New Mexico.