From Paperwork to Power
Across Mississippi, many small water systems face the same challenge: the biggest barriers are not always broken pipes or aging wells, but the regulatory requirements, funding applications and operational demands required to…
Building the Picture
Mississippi entrepreneurs Paul and Breanna Sweet didn’t just want a business. They wanted something lasting — a way to support their eight children and build generational wealth. “In order to build something generational and…
Stepping Out on Faith
For more than four decades, Nellie Burnett has built her business on something simple but increasingly rare — doing the work herself. Burnett, owner of Burnett, Son, and Grandson Janitorial and Lawn Service, first entered…
Modern Meters
In rural Perry County, Alabama, providing reliable drinking water requires more than operating pumps. The Perry County Water Authority, a nonprofit system serving more than 1,100 connections in Marion, must stretch limited…
Ready to Respond
Since 2021, the Community Infrastructure Team at Communities Unlimited (CU) has worked alongside Village of Chataignier, a rural community of 364 people in south-central Louisiana’s Evangeline Parish, helping local leaders…
Getting Back on Solid Ground
For years, the City of Blanket faced mounting financial pressure within its wastewater system — a challenge common among rural communities working to maintain aging infrastructure while keeping services affordable. That…
Sounding Safety
After years of planning — and a devastating reminder of what was at stake — the City of Crockett in Houston County has completed the installation of six new outdoor warning sirens, significantly strengthening emergency…
Mapped Forward
Serving 313 connections in Arcadia, a town of more than 2,500 people in Bienville Parish in north-central Louisiana, Alabama Water System is the kind of small rural utility where limited staff often juggle complex regulatory…
When the River Rose
Located along the banks of the Guadalupe River in Kerr County, Texas, Ingram is a Hill Country community where neighbors know one another and volunteer service runs deep. But in July 2025, that sense of familiarity was…
Rooted in Memphis, Expanding to Atlanta
For 25 years, Makeda’s Homemade Butter Cookies, founded in Memphis, Tennessee, has built its reputation on a simple promise: scratch-made cookies, baked fresh with 100% pure butter, delivered with consistency and care.…
From Adversity to Comeback
By the time Michele Henegar first walked into the office at Siam Utility District, the problems were so deep that even longtime water professionals were backing away. Records were scattered in handwritten notebooks. There…
Two Decades in the Making
When Board Chairman Fred Hammack looks back on Delaware County Rural Water District #12’s journey, one moment always stands out — the day he was told the system first had to become official before it could ever move……
School Spark
More than a year after a single workshop conversation, the Rusk Education Foundation is already changing daily life inside classrooms at the local independent school district. In 2024, parent-family liaison Laeil Pepin…
From Paperwork to Power
Across Mississippi, many small water systems face the same challenge: the biggest barriers are not always broken pipes or aging wells, but the regulatory requirements, funding applications and operational demands required to…
Building the Picture
Mississippi entrepreneurs Paul and Breanna Sweet didn’t just want a business. They wanted something lasting — a way to support their eight children and build generational wealth. “In order to build something generational and…
Stepping Out on Faith
For more than four decades, Nellie Burnett has built her business on something simple but increasingly rare — doing the work herself. Burnett, owner of Burnett, Son, and Grandson Janitorial and Lawn Service, first entered…
Modern Meters
In rural Perry County, Alabama, providing reliable drinking water requires more than operating pumps. The Perry County Water Authority, a nonprofit system serving more than 1,100 connections in Marion, must stretch limited…
Ready to Respond
Since 2021, the Community Infrastructure Team at Communities Unlimited (CU) has worked alongside Village of Chataignier, a rural community of 364 people in south-central Louisiana’s Evangeline Parish, helping local leaders…
Getting Back on Solid Ground
For years, the City of Blanket faced mounting financial pressure within its wastewater system — a challenge common among rural communities working to maintain aging infrastructure while keeping services affordable. That…
Sounding Safety
After years of planning — and a devastating reminder of what was at stake — the City of Crockett in Houston County has completed the installation of six new outdoor warning sirens, significantly strengthening emergency…
Mapped Forward
Serving 313 connections in Arcadia, a town of more than 2,500 people in Bienville Parish in north-central Louisiana, Alabama Water System is the kind of small rural utility where limited staff often juggle complex regulatory…
When the River Rose
Located along the banks of the Guadalupe River in Kerr County, Texas, Ingram is a Hill Country community where neighbors know one another and volunteer service runs deep. But in July 2025, that sense of familiarity was…
Rooted in Memphis, Expanding to Atlanta
For 25 years, Makeda’s Homemade Butter Cookies, founded in Memphis, Tennessee, has built its reputation on a simple promise: scratch-made cookies, baked fresh with 100% pure butter, delivered with consistency and care.…
From Adversity to Comeback
By the time Michele Henegar first walked into the office at Siam Utility District, the problems were so deep that even longtime water professionals were backing away. Records were scattered in handwritten notebooks. There…
