State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

Software for the Social Good: One County

Government Technology: In 1999, in Allegheny County, Pa., the Department of Human Services DHS) did something few local governments would have considered. It built a data warehouse as a central repository for the county’s health and human services data, part of an overarching strategy to deliver integrated support to its most vulnerable citizens. While most data warehouses were oriented toward research or one-shot projects at the time, Allegheny County took a different tack and decided to use it for decision support for a range of social problems: behavioral health, child welfare, homelessness, aging and other disabilities.

The warehouse uses software from IBM and Oracle and has steadily built up the number of data sets it contains. As the data has become richer, the ability to conduct more comprehensive analysis, particularly around gaps in client coverage, has steadily improved. For example, in 2005, DHS developed an algorithm that helped officials spot clients who had multiple needs. The algorithm boosted the number of children in child welfare who received mental health support from 26 percent to 44 percent.

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