GAIN Deserves the Name

The new federal welfare reforms require states and counties that administer public assistance programs to move recipients into job programs or lose federal funds. As the clock ticks, the dramatic success of Los Angeles County’s retooled Greater Avenues for Independence welfare-to-work program should inspire progress in other inner cities with large numbers of multi-generational welfare families.

Proving that massive bureaucracies can make a quick turnaround, the L.A. County GAIN program overcame a dismal start and in two years racked up startling results by changing its message. The program now places a higher value on getting a job than on remedial education. Manpower Development Research Corp. has analyzed California’s GAIN program for more than a decade and certifies the turnaround.

L.A.’s effective “Jobs First” program boosted placements from 10,609 in fiscal 1993-94 to 27,364 in fiscal 1995-96, according to the State Department of Social Services. That 160% increase is spectacular considering that most of the participants were recipients who had the longest histories on welfare. Many had never worked and were considered the most challenging to wean off Aid to Families with Dependent Children.

During the same period, the program posted an astonishing fivefold increase in the number of welfare recipients who received smaller welfare checks because they were working at least part-time. The number of recipients who earned enough to leave the welfare rolls nearly doubled. Los Angeles County GAIN, led by John Martinelli, patterned its top-down revamp after neighboring Riverside County, which early on emphasized work first and quickly succeeded in putting large numbers of people into jobs and saving millions of public dollars, according to a 1994 study. That same study found that L.A.’s original GAIN program had performed poorly.

Nearly 700,000 adults are required to get off welfare in California in the next two years. GAIN can help accomplish that goal, but only if jobs and child care are also available.