Click on the Garage Build link in my signature....the first part of it shows how I did my foundation....if you pour your footings with an 8" stem wall....you have a way to keep water out (and your walls away from the water). You use the dirt that you took out of the foundation to properly grade your yard.
I don't exactly buy into the 'remediation' comment above....if the water has no where to go from your yard, it would be more of a general issue for the whole neighborhood.
If anything...put in a drainage pipe from your back yard to the street.