Well, you'd have to ask someone that's really lived there for a long time, my perspective is only from my hubby working there for a few years. In the area he worked in specifically, it is desolate. It takes a bit to get to a "real" town. There *is* work on the reservation, but it's mostly things working for the schools, or being a city official, and 2 small convenience stores. There's not like a "downtown" to speak of. Only houses, schools, etc.
I dunno...since Native Americans came from a different way of life way back in the day, and were "domesticated" so to speak to be more like settlers, there's been difficulty. How do you reconcile losing your culture and fit into what "the norm" is and be productive? Alcoholism and FAS are huge there, so families are not strong families a lot of the time. Children learn what they see, and the cycle continues. Many times children live with the auntie or grandma while the parent is getting it together.
I don't know about the situation with tribal money that is designated for tribe members, that wasn't part of the school system. I think you need to register your "belonging" to whichever tribe. If I remember right, it wouldn't be enough to live on, but more than a couple months pay for most folks, but that's just me knowing things from folks talking by-the-way kind of things.
There *are* lots of stray dogs there. Broken down cars. Shiny, brand new trucks parked next to cars resting on the rims. If you ever get the chance, rent "Smoke Signals" because it's a very funny movie about life on the res. Funny, sad, true, poignant.
I've still got a lot of hurt over the years DH taught there. Mostly because he bent over backwards and tried to help students succeed, only to be greeted with suspicion and scorn, kids threatening violence, accusing him of being there to take advantage, to take their money (meaning getting paid for working there). He's got a star quilt from when he left that I've never put on a bed, and I might not ever make one. I used to be really upset about it, but as time goes on I realize they are only doing the best they can with the resources they've got. You can throw hundreds of thousands of dollars there. Millions, even. But if you can't support their emotional-spritual-psychological wellness and get a strong community started, it's like spitting into the wind to think that one more pair of jeans is going to stop someone's daddy from drinking until he passes out, but not before he yells at his wife-kids a couple times, kwim?