The Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS), in partnership with the United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania, has been offering free tax preparation in several locations throughout the County since 2011. Thirteen trained volunteers helped 343 clients in need prepare returns last year. Collectively, these clients received a total federal refund of $519,645, at no cost to them. This brief includes demographic information about the taxpayers who received DHS tax assistance services and the overall results of the 2017 program.
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An involuntary commitment, also known as a 302, may occur when an individual is exhibiting symptoms of mental illness that are unmanageable and may result in danger to themselves or to others. The dashboard below displays data about the involuntary commitment process in Allegheny County from petition to examination to inpatient admission. Data ranges from May 2014 to the present and is updated daily.
A related report is also available.
Trouble viewing the dashboard? You can view it directly here.
Related materials
- Report: Involuntary Commitment in Allegheny County, 2002-2013 data
This data brief includes information on involuntary termination of parental rights cases and adoptions handled through CYF. TPR petitions and completed adoption data from 2014-2021 were examined in two separate briefs (linked below).
Click here to read the Adoption and Termination of Parental Rights Brief – 2018-2021
Click here to read the Adoptions and Involuntary Termination Brief – 2014-2017.
The Allegheny County Jail Collaborative is a group of government agencies, nonprofit organizations, volunteers and community members who are committed to improving the transition of people returning to the community after leaving the Allegheny County Jail. This report describes the Jail Collaborative’s 2016-2019 strategic plan, progress that has been made in the past year and advancements expected in the coming years.
This infographic depicts the flow of homeless youth in and out of Allegheny County’s homeless service system. Analyzing the housing services that youth used — in addition to the places they were residing before and after receiving these services — helps inform outreach efforts and service planning. This is part of an effort to prevent and divert youth from homelessness and improve the housing outcomes of youth who do experience homelessness.
Using data from the County’s Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), 260 youth ages 18-24 who used a homeless service between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2016 were identified. Residence before and after service utilization were self-reported by youth. Some youth entered the homeless system multiple times during this period for a total of 321 service involvement entries during the period of study. Not all youth who entered a homeless service in 2016 exited within the same year; as a result, total entries into service do not equal exits.
The left side of the chart shows where youth were residing prior to their use of homeless services. The most frequent location was a doubled-up situation, i.e., living with a friend or family member in a place where they could not stay permanently. The middle of the chart displays the homeless services used by youth; emergency shelters were accessed most frequently followed by transitional housing services. The right side of the chart displays where youth went after leaving a homeless service. Most youth went to permanent living situations, though many also went to non-permanent locations and data was not available for about a quarter of service exits.
A total of 20,190 children were referred to the child welfare system in Allegheny County due to abuse or neglect in 2015. The data in this brief analyzes the number and rate of children of different races at four critical stages within the child welfare system: referral, investigation, accept for service and home removal. While this analysis does not identify the reason for the disproportionality that exists, it is clear there is unequal representation of black and bi/multiracial children within the child welfare system as compared to the representation of these groups in Allegheny County.
How is the Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) able to link data across programs and with providers, given privacy law restrictions?
Erin Dalton, Director of DHS, and Brian Bell, a supervisor and privacy officer, share their insights on the Gov Innovator podcast. Hosted by Andy Feldman of the Brooking’s Institution, the podcast shares insights and strategies from leaders in the public sector. This talk builds on an earlier conversation with Dalton about the Data Warehouse.
The Allegheny County YOUth Count survey was initiated in 2015 to gain a more accurate count of youth experiencing housing instability. Data gathered was meant to enhance yearly HUD-required Point-in-Time (PIT) homelessness counts to determine how best to connect this population with the services they need. This data brief outlines key findings of the 2016 survey and explains the County’s ultimate decision to conduct two PIT counts next year and enlist the help of youth-serving providers to collect data rather than designing a separate survey.
Eleven Allegheny County foster care provider agencies formed a training cooperative in order to improve the number and quality of training opportunities for foster parents. After increasing the number and variety of trainings, the cooperative requested feedback to inform quality and access improvements. DHS staff conducted telephone surveys with foster parents and identified a number of recommendations for improvement. This brief provides an overview of the survey process and findings.
Conferencing and Teaming is the Allegheny County Department of Human Services’ practice model designed to engage child welfare participants, and their natural supports, in a process of family strengthening through client-driven goal setting and achievement. An analysis of participant experiences with Conferencing and Teaming was conducted in order to assess their satisfaction with the process and ways in which participation might be improved. The analysis was based on telephone surveys with more than 200 participants. Findings from the analysis and resulting recommendations are described in this brief.
Allegheny County, like much of Western Pennsylvania, is in the midst of an opioid overdose epidemic and it is vitally important that County residents have access to the best and most effective treatment to support their recovery from opioid use disorders. Medication-assisted treatment, or MAT, combines medication and counseling/behavioral therapy and, when clinically appropriate, is a standard of care in the treatment of opioid use disorders. Research has proven MAT to be highly effective in improving recovery outcomes and reducing criminal behavior and risk of infectious disease.
The Allegheny County Departments of Health and Human Services, together with Allegheny HealthChoices, Inc. and Community Care Behavioral Health, issued a Joint Position Statement on Medication-Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorders in Allegheny County, describing their expectations for contracted treatment providers and others who encounter or serve individuals with opioid use disorders. It states that every person entering substance use treatment for opioid use is entitled to the opportunity to learn about and consider MAT as a treatment option. It is intended to dispel ambiguity and should be understood as a clear statement in support of an effective treatment continuum that includes MAT.
Implemented at the end of 2013 and designed to provide service coordination and supports for families accessing Allegheny County’s four emergency homeless shelters, the Homeless Services and Supports Coordination program (HSSC) served about 300 families with children in its first year. This evaluation was designed to elicit information about participants’ experiences with HSSC services as well as their overall shelter experience. Among other findings, it found that staff personality and style of interaction were essential elements of what made the program successful. The report discusses the implications of this and other findings as well as opportunities for consideration going forward.
Receiving more than 3,000 calls annually, the Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) Director’s Action Line (DAL) is an effective mechanism through which clients and other community members can resolve issues and get information about DHS services. It is also an important feedback tool for DHS, providing information about client experiences and perceptions of the services they receive. An evaluation was conducted of both of these functions, and the findings led to valuable insights and recommendations for improving outreach and follow-up.
An evaluation of 25 Allegheny County Family Support Centers looked at the operation and impact of individual Centers as well as the network as a whole, in five specific areas: family empowerment; connection to social services, early child development and school readiness; maternal and child health; and child abuse and neglect. This report describes the network, summarizes the network-wide findings, and offers a number of recommendations for strengthening the network and improving its outcomes.
This series of reports presents data about homicides, shots fired, shootings and aggravated assaults with a firearm in the City of Pittsburgh. Demographic information about homicide victims and offenders, the location of homicides and calls for shots fired, and detail about when violence occurred are also provided. Explore the links below to view violence data for a range of time periods.
Related interactive visualizations:
Violence Trends in Allegheny County