Human Services fill gaps in care and assistance for many of the region's dependent populations, including the elderly, people with disabilities, chidren, and those with low incomes. It is critical to assess the region's ability to provide this "final safety net" - and thus a higher quality of life - for those in need of assistance.

The Human Services section of State of the Region measures performance in terms of the region’s success in feeding the hungry, providing shelter, quality child care and elder care, its rates of child and adult abuse, treating substance abuse, and serving the developmentally disabled. These indicators generally focus on programs that help individuals in need of assistance meet basic needs, and seeks to measure gaps between these needs and the level and quality of services provided.

The State of the Region has found that there is relatively little coordination among the many public and private service providers and funding agencies in Western New York. Consequently, data are not centralized and often incompatible, making it difficult to evaluate regional services. The State of the Region believes that to understand and improve this system at the regional level, there is a pressing need for better coordination, client access, program evaluation and data sharing.