On a recent Thursday night in Pittsburgh’s South Hills, the room at a South Pittsburgh Coalition for Peace meeting was standing-room only as neighborhood organizers, outreach workers and city officials walked through fresh data that many in the city have been waiting years to see. New numbers suggest gun violence has eased across much of Allegheny County and within Pittsburgh itself. Speakers pointed to a multi-year slide in both homicide and nonfatal shooting victims, and highlighted that Pittsburgh recorded 35 homicides in 2025, the city’s lowest total since 1989. Organizers credited public grants and street-level outreach for much of the progress, while warning that the work is far from done.
Rev. Eileen Smith, the coalition's executive director, told the crowd that county-funded grants have let community groups put real paychecks behind the life-and-death work of trusted outreach workers who step in after shootings to head off retaliation. "It’s because of the grant money that we've been getting to compensate these men and women who risk their lives to go out on the street," Smith said, as reported by WTAE. Laurie MacDonald, president and CEO of the Center for Victims, added that last summer felt unusually quiet for the agency's caseload.
DHS Data Show A Steady Three-Year Decline
A researcher with the Allegheny County Department of Human Services laid out year-by-year figures that backed up what many outreach workers say they have been feeling on the street. The combined number of homicide and nonfatal shooting victims fell from 353 in 2023 to 300 in 2024 and 288 in 2025. County and city totals were described as better than recent highs, with Allegheny County recording 73 homicides in 2025 and the City of Pittsburgh recording 35, according to reporting by the New Pittsburgh Courier. Even so, participants at the meeting stressed that many incidents are still categorized as "community violence," which means intervention and retaliation-prevention work has to continue at full speed.
How County Grants Hit The Streets
Allegheny County's Community Violence Reduction Initiative is backing a slate of evidence-based strategies, including Cure Violence, Becoming A Man and transitional employment pilots, as part of a multi-year investment aimed at shrinking community violence. The Department of Human Services says those dollars support violence interrupters, rapid-response teams and organizations that provide trauma care and job pathways, as described by the Allegheny County Department of Human Services. Local groups at the SPCP meeting said the funding has allowed them to hire and equip trusted community members for full-time outreach, turning what used to be volunteer side work into sustained neighborhood coverage.
City Leaders Double Down On Street Partnerships
Pittsburgh's director of public safety, Sheldon Williams, turned up at the meeting and made it clear he wants to keep leaning into community partnerships rather than pulling back now that numbers are trending in the right direction. "I am looking to continue the good work that has already been done and look at it as ways that we can link with them to continue their work," Williams said, according to WTAE. Coverage of his nomination and background by WESA notes his years in policing, EMS and ministry, which city leaders say inform his community-focused approach.
What Comes Next
Advocates and officials at the session were quick to say that the drop is a major milestone, not a "mission accomplished" moment. Hundreds of shooting victims across the county last year are a stark reminder that both outreach and enforcement still have to carry a heavy load. Analysts and police say the decline likely reflects a mix of prevention work, targeted enforcement and shifting dynamics, and that it is difficult to pin the change on any single cause, as Axios reported. SPCP organizers said they plan to keep the monthly convenings going so groups can trade tactics, coordinate rapid responses and push for sustained funding until the lower numbers hold over time.
