Employment Information
Recent reports vary but many point out that the median income on the Pine Ridge Reservation is approximately $2,600 to $3,500 per year.
The unemployment rate on Pine Ridge is said to be approximately 83-85% and can be higher during the winter months when travel is difficult or often impossible.
According to 2006 resources, about 97% of the population lives below Federal poverty levels.
There is little industry, technology, or commercial infrastructure on the Reservation to provide employment.
Rapid City, South Dakota is the nearest town of size (population approximately 57,700) for those who can travel to find work. It is located 120 miles from the Reservation. The nearest large city to Pine Ridge is Denver, Colorado located some 350 miles away.
Life Expectancy and Health Conditions
Some figures state that the life expectancy on the Reservation is 48 years old for men and 52 for women. Other reports state that the average life expectancy on the Reservation is 45 years old. These statistics are far from the 77.5 years of age life expectancy average found in the United States as a whole. According to current USDA Rural Development documents, the Lakota have the lowest life expectancy of any group in America.
Teenage suicide rate on the Pine Ridge Reservation is 150% higher than the U.S. national average for this age group.
The infant mortality rate is the highest on this continent and is about 300% higher than the U.S. national average.
More than half the Reservation's adults battle addiction and disease. Alcoholism, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and malnutrition are pervasive.
The rate of diabetes on the Reservation is reported to be 800% higher than the U.S. national average.
Recent reports indicate that almost 50% of the adults on the Reservation over the age of 40 have diabetes.
As a result of the high rate of diabetes on the Reservation, diabetic-related blindness, amputations, and kidney failure are common.
The tuberculosis rate on the Pine Ridge Reservation is approximately 800% higher than the U.S. national average.
Cervical cancer is 500% higher than the U.S. national average.
It is reported that at least 60% of the homes on the Pine Ridge Reservation are infested with Black Mold, Stachybotrys. This infestation causes an often-fatal condition with infants, children, elderly, those with damaged immune systems, and those with lung and pulmonary conditions at the highest risk. Exposure to this mold can cause hemorrhaging of the lungs and brain as well as cancer.
A Federal Commodity Food Program is active but supplies mostly inappropriate foods (high in carbohydrate and/or sugar) for the largely diabetic population of the Reservation.
A small non-profit Food Co-op is in operation on the Reservation but is available only for those with funds to participate.
Health Care
Many Reservation residents live without health care due to vast travel distances involved in accessing that care. Additional factors include under-funded, under-staffed medical facilities and outdated or non-existent medical equipment.
Preventive healthcare programs are rare.
In most of the treaties between the U.S. Government and Indian Nations, the U.S. government agreed to provide adequate medical care for Indians in return for vast quantities of land. The Indian Health Services (IHS) was set up to administer the health care for Indians under these treaties and receives an appropriation each year to fund Indian health care. Unfortunately, the appropriation is very small compared to the need and there is little hope for increased funding from Congress. The IHS is understaffed and ill-equipped and can’t possibly address the needs of Indian communities. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
Education Issues
School drop-out rate is over 70%.
According to a Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) report, the Pine Ridge Reservation schools are in the bottom 10% of school funding by U.S. Department of Education and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Teacher turnover is 800% that of the U.S. national average
Housing Conditions and Homelessness
The small BIA/Tribal Housing Authority homes on the Pine Ridge Reservation are overcrowded and scarce, resulting in many homeless families who often use tents or cars for shelter. Many families live in old cabins or dilapidated mobile homes and trailers.
According to a 2003 report from South Dakota State University, the majority of the current Tribal Housing Authority homes were built from 1970-1979. The report brings to light that a great percentage of that original construction by the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) was “shoddy and substandard.” The report also states that 26% of the housing units on the Reservation are mobile homes, often purchased or obtained (through donations) as used, low-value units with negative-value equity.
Even though there is a large homeless population on the Reservation, most families never turn away a relative no matter how distant the blood relation. Consequently, many homes often have large numbers of people living in them.
In a recent case study, the Tribal Council estimated a need for at least 4,000 new homes in order to combat the homeless situation.
There is an estimated average of 17 people living in each family home (a home which may only have two to three rooms). Some larger homes, built for 6 to 8 people, have up to 30 people living in them.
Over-all, 59% of the Reservation homes are substandard.
Over 33% of the Reservation homes lack basic water and sewage systems as well as electricity.
Many residents must carry (often contaminated) water from the local rivers daily for their personal needs.
Some Reservation families are forced to sleep on dirt floors.
Without basic insulation or central heating in their homes, many residents on the Pine Ridge Reservation use their ovens to heat their homes.
Many Reservation homes lack adequate insulation. Even more homes lack central heating.
Periodically, Reservation residents are found dead from hypothermia (freezing).
It is reported that at least 60% of the homes on the Pine Ridge Reservation need to be burned to the ground and replaced with new housing due to infestation of the potentially-fatal Black Mold, Stachybotrys. There is no insurance or government program to assist families in replacing their homes.
39% of the homes on the Pine Ridge Reservation have no electricity.
The most common form of heating fuel is propane. Wood-burning is the second most common form of heating a home although wood supplies are often expensive or difficult to obtain.
Many Reservation homes lack basic furniture and appliances such as beds, refrigerators, and stoves.
60% of Reservation families have no land-line telephone. The Tribe has recently issued basic cell phones to the residents. However, these cell phones (commonly called commodity phones) do not operate off the Reservation at all and are often inoperable in the rural areas on the Reservation or during storms or wind.
Computers and internet connections are very rare.
Federal and tribal heat assistance programs (such as LLEAP) are limited by their funding. In the winter of 2005-2006, the average one-time only payment to a family was said to be approximately $250-$300 to cover the entire winter. For many, that amount did not even fill their propane heating tanks one time.
