Welcome
Governments, corporations, and powerful organizations use data to influence many of the decisions that shape our daily lives. The average community member often does not have access to that data, or important public data are often difficult to find. Data may be scattered across many different government websites, buried in technical reports, or presented in ways that is difficult for the average person to understand.
Allegheny Data Institute was created to help change that.
Our mission is to make reliable information about life in Allegheny County easier to find, understand, and use. We are building a central public resource for data briefs, visualizations, dashboards, and downloadable datasets related to County Council, demographics, digital equity, economics, the environment, housing, military/veterans, healthcare, public safety, and public transportation.
Accessible
We believe public data should be free and accessible to everyone.
A person should not need a degree in statistics, economics, or data science to understand what is happening in their community. Our goal is to present information in a clear and straightforward manner, while maintaining accuracy, transparency, and respect for the complexity of the issues.
Allegheny Data Institute serves residents, students, journalists, advocates, researchers, neighborhood groups, and anyone interested in understanding the challenges facing Allegheny County.
Independent and Nonpartisan
Allegheny Data Institute is not affiliated with any political party, candidate, campaign, or political organization.
Our role is not to tell people what conclusions they must reach. We gather, analyze, and present the data as honestly and clearly as possible. Readers can evaluate the evidence and decide for themselves how government, corporations, public institutions, and others with power should respond.
We only accept donations from individuals who believe in the work that we do. We do not accept funding from foundations, businesses, corporations, political parties, or government agencies. These financial boundaries are intended to protect the independence of our work and prevent institutional funders from attempting to influence what we study or publish.
Focused on Equity
Though we are nonpartisan, we are not indifferent to injustice.
Our research gives particular attention to long-standing inequities within our social, political, and economic systems. We are interested in asking the tough questions: who benefits, who bears the greatest burdens, which communities receive investment, and which communities continue to be left behind.
We know that data cannot solve injustice, but by understanding data we can make inequity more difficult to ignore.
We believe public officials and private and non-profit corporations should be accountable for producing meaningful, measurable, and lasting improvements in our society—not merely temporary programs, isolated projects, or small policy adjustments. Our work is intended to encourage deeper conversations about long-term, systemic change.
Volunteer Run
Allegheny Data Institute is entirely volunteer run. No one working on ADI projects is paid. Our research, analysis, writing, visualizations, and project coordination are contributed by people who believe this work has public value.
We are an evolving public resource. We will continue adding new topics, improving our methods, correcting errors, and learning from the people who use our work.
Our goal is not to provide the final word on Allegheny County. Our aim is to provide a trustworthy place to begin asking the right questions to produce the best solutions.
Welcome to Allegheny Data Institute.