Riverside County Greater Avenues for Independence Program (GAIN) Program

Riverside County California’s Greater Avenues for Independence Program (GAIN) program was a welfare-to-work program for (i) single parents receiving or applying for welfare whose children were over a certain age (generally five); and (ii) the principal wage earner in all two-parent families receiving or applying for welfare. It was a mandatory program, in that participation was required as a condition for receiving full welfare benefits under the federal Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program. Riverside’s GAIN program was part of a larger California GAIN initiative, operating statewide from the late 1980s through the mid-1990s, that was designed to increase the employment and self-sufficiency of welfare recipients. The GAIN model was implemented differently in various counties - for example, some counties focused more on providing basic education services, and others focused more on providing job search assistance.

The mission of the program is to work vigorously to free participants from the burden of welfare dependency, and achieve a better, happier lifestyle through self-sufficiency. It will serve the taxpayers of Riverside County by reducing welfare dependency, thus making tax dollars available for other expenditures and needs.

The program produced a large net savings to the government through increased tax revenues and reduced welfare and food stamps payments (as an estimate, $2.84 saved for every $1.00 invested over five years).

A randomized controlled trial (RCT) with a sample of 8,033 welfare applicants and recipients in Riverside County, California. The evaluation found that a there was a sizable increase in employment rates and job earnings, reduction in welfare dependency, and savings to the government, at study follow-up five years after random assignment. Though, a limitation of the evidence is that this study was conducted prior to the enactment of sweeping federal welfare reforms in 1996, and it is unknown whether the findings would generalize to present-day welfare settings.