The data displayed on the dashboard is collected and prepared by different agencies, therefore the most current year for each tab varies based on that agency's procedure and schedule. Not all data sources are updated annually.

The data for the dashboard comes from many data sources who are collecting and cleaning data on different schedules. This means that data is updated at different times each year. If you have questions about specific data sources, please contact us at vasis@omni.org .

Count describes the number of cases for a given variable, such as the number of people who received a service or the number of individuals arrested for a certain reason. Counts have been converted into rates (per 10,000 or 100,000 people) in order to allow for the comparison of data across communities.

Looking at rate data allows for comparison across communities. The size of a community can vary drastically and can make it difficult to compare counts across communities. By converting the count to be a rate per 100,000 or 10,000 people, you can directly compare an indicator across communities.

The geographic information available on each tab depends on the level of detail provided by the data source. Whenever possible, the most granular level of data is provided.

When locality level data was available, localities have been aggregated to the Community Service Board level and DBHDS Regional level. In some cases the most granular level of data available may be at a regional level that differs from DBHDS regional designations.

The independent city of Bedford, Virginia was changed to town status and was added to Bedford County effective July 1, 2013. For consistency on this dashboard, Bedford City and Bedford county data were combined across data collection years for all data sources.

On this dashboard, data suppression follows rules set by each data source to prevent the ability to identify individuals in the data set. For example, if there are only three 55 - 65 year old's in a community receiving SNAP benefits this information may be suppressed to avoid identifying these individuals. Suppression rules are defined in the description for each tab.

All demographic categories displayed on each tab are based on how the information is represented in a particular data source. Some agencies separate out Hispanic Origin from Race as distinct measures, while others include Hispanic/Latino in the Race category. The data cannot be transformed to show uniform demographic categories across the dashboard.

Similar to demographic categories, the geographic regions displayed on each tab are based on the regional groupings in the data source. Most tabs are aligned with DBHDS's 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 numeral region identifiers.

The dashboards are designed to be interactive and allow you to filter the data in a variety of ways. A geographic level filter is included on the left filter menu of dashboards where data can be viewed at multiple levels, such as locality-, Community Services Board (CSB)-, or Region Level. Clicking on a certain community on a map and data table will filter the data even further to focus on the select area.

Additional filters are provided in the left-hand filter menu for many data sources to allow you to filter data by demographic group, topic area or other relevant variables. These filters vary by data source.

In order to share these data publicly, our team has agreements in place with our partnering agencies. These agreements limit us in how we can share the data on this site.

A PDF can be downloaded of any dashboard view. To download a PDF of the dashboard view you are on, look for a download button along the right side of the gray bar at the bottom of each dashboard.