Supporting rural life in Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands

Written by Sarah Sol, USDA Rural Development, Office of External Affairs

Lakeisha Hood Moïse’s hope for the rural areas she serves is for them to preserve the characteristic that makes them different: their rurality.

Each rural community is unique, she said, which means life in rural America can bring a wealth of diverse experiences.

“Diversity matters,” said Hood Moïse, Rural Development’s (RD’s) State Director for Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands. “Our nation isn’t a monolith, and I hope that it never will be, because that’s what makes rural places so special.”

Not everyone wants to live or work in a metropolitan or urbanized area, she said, so rural communities should always remain an option.

“They should have all the accoutrements that any other area has, so that the choice to live rural does not deprive people of access to opportunity, security or prosperity,” Hood Moïse said. “People should have the ability to live and thrive wherever they are, whether that’s rural or urban, and we have a responsibility to make sure that they can have a good quality of life and an enjoyable experience while living there.”

The rural communities she serves have sometimes been overlooked—in part because of how people may perceive Florida and the Virgin Islands.

“Because Florida is so large, and it’s primarily known for its tourist attractions and big cities, a lot of times people forget that Florida is also rural,” she said. “And the same applies for the Virgin Islands. When people think about the Virgin Islands, they immediately envision paradise—their beautiful beaches, blue skies and clear blue waters—which definitely exist. But it is also very rural and has many remote communities.”

About 8.5 percent of Floridians lived in rural areas in 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s “State-Level Urban and Rural Information for the 2020 Census and 2010 Census.” That’s more than 1.8 million people. And each of the islands that make up the U.S. Virgin Islands is designated as “rural.” RD is a constant, dedicated resource for them.

“We are always available specifically to serve their needs and to be of assistance to them,” Hood Moïse said.

She grew up in a rural community herself, in southwest Georgia.

“I’m a product of a rural community, so I don’t take it lightly that rural America deserves to be championed,” she said. “It creates great people and great products, and they deserve the same attention, resources and amplification of any other community.”

People in rural communities in Florida and the Virgin Islands face a variety of challenges, which can involve housing, community facilities, infrastructure, jobs, access to resources and services, and frequent natural disasters. Both areas are particularly prone to tropical weather, Hood Moïse pointed out, and disaster resilience and recovery have unique considerations in rural areas. RD’s goal is to be a partner in helping people overcome these and other challenges.

“It’s what we do all day long, every day, whether in blue skies or during disaster circumstances,” she said. “Rural Development exists for the sole purpose of helping rural communities have the quality of life, the quality of resources and the type of access that all other areas of the U.S. have.”

RD has invested nearly $3.2 billion in Florida and more than $87 million in the Virgin Islands since the beginning of fiscal year 2021. Each individual investment is critical and makes a difference in someone’s life, Hood Moïse said. Among her favorite moments are seeing new homeowners turn the key to walk into a home that belongs to them, a home they can call their own, she said, because of RD’s housing programs.

“There is just a feeling of such gratification that we were able to help someone start their journey to homeownership, to generational wealth, to that level of sustainability and consistency that homeownership brings,” she said. “In some instances, it’s households who may have a child who, for the first time, is going to have a bedroom that they can paint their own color. And it’s those simple pleasures that we can’t take for granted.”

Another way RD has made a difference is in distance learning and telemedicine. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hood Moïse said, RD had just funded a grant for a healthcare provider in the Virgin Islands that uses technology to manage chronic diseases remotely. This benefited people in a time of social distancing but also was a long-term game changer for isolated communities. Mountain and valley terrain can make travel to and from some areas on the islands difficult.

“Talk about overcoming remoteness—and overcoming remoteness in a way where people can remain comfortably in their homes but still receive the type of care that they’re entitled to as American citizens and residents of the U.S.,” Hood Moïse said.

Sometimes RD’s role in Florida and the Virgin Islands is simply to act as a facilitator and get people to the resources that are the best fit for them.

“With an influx of resources from the Biden-Harris Administration coming through multiple federal agencies—and a lot of those resources also being passed through to states—there are lots of opportunities out there, and State Directors are in a critical position to be connectors of rural communities to those opportunities,” she said.

Hood Moïse previously served as the Director of the Division of Food, Nutrition and Wellness in the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. She also served as a legislative assistant in the Florida State Senate and has earned both juris doctor and Master of Laws degrees. She joined RD as a State Director in January 2022.

In May 2024, she became one of RD’s two State Directors in Residence. In this role, she applies her previous professional experiences and her experience as an RD State Director—her on-the-ground understanding of program challenges, budgetary constraints, staffing and morale concerns, and difficulties that people are facing in rural communities—to contribute to RD operations at a national level.

She works with Under Secretary for Rural Development Dr. Basil I. Gooden and his team in Washington, D.C., and on special projects, exploring opportunities for the agency to better leverage resources, identify flexibilities in policy, or identify additional needs RD may have.

RD’s mission also inspires her. Doing something to uplift communities where people have been chronically underserved and underrepresented, and where funding has not traditionally been available, is rewarding every day, said Hood Moïse.

“There is nothing about the mission and intent of the work that we do that I do not love,” she said.

Helping communities maintain their rural character while addressing their economic and community development needs is particularly important to her.

“To the extent that we can enable them to maintain their rurality and have everything that they desire for their residents … that is what I hope we can do,” she said. “The goal is never to urbanize these communities, but, in their rurality, we want them to have all the things that they need to be a really good place to live, work and grow.”