North Dakota boasts the lowest statewide unemployment in the nation. But unemployment remains shockingly high in a few places, notably on Indian reservations. The average unemployment rate on the state’s reservations can be as high as 55 percent, a press release from the North Dakota Association of Tribal Colleges states.

And as North Dakotans know, Indian reservations also struggle with other tough issues, including poverty, substance abuse, low high-school graduation rates and, too often, poor tribal governance.

But through the years, a few institutional bright spots have emerged — and the tribal college movement is one.