STEVE EMBER: The official poverty rate for all Americans last year was a little more than fourteen percent. The growth of gambling operations on Indian lands has brought new sources of money to some tribal communities. But almost twenty-four percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives were living in poverty last year.

High school and college completion rates for American Indians are lower than the national average. And rates of violence against women are higher than average. Those new federal measures include provisions that seek to reduce violence against Native American women.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Conditions like these can make it difficult to succeed on the reservation. But leaving, says Vincent Schilling, is not an easy choice either.

VINCENT SCHILLING: "If you leave the reservation, you're leaving, period. And people sometimes feel like you're leaving and not looking back. But that's not the case. Sometimes we need to leave for opportunity."

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: But he also points to efforts to make the Internet and educational technology more available on the reservation.

VINCENT SCHILLING: "If we can get these college degree programs to really embrace online degrees and things like that, then we really can be bringing education to native kids and native folks in general."

STEVE EMBER: Vincent Schilling says that like many Native Americans who live off the reservation, he still has strong ties to his culture.