The need for affordable housing impacts our rural communities and their economies every day. But there is good news: there's people and programs working to ensure more homes are available.

Done so through grants, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago hopes to incentivize the next generation of real estate developers to focus on the rural housing demand. Tashayanna Mixson sat down with me. She's currently one of their emerging rural development fellows, and she's working right here in Wisconsin. While the program itself focuses on both the rental and ownership side of the equation, Tashayanna tells me that she herself is focused on creating opportunities for affordable homeownership, a situation that she describes as a dire need for rural Wisconsin.

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