For participants with low educational attainment or low math, reading, or English language skills at program entry, GAIN began with adult education or job search assistance. For all other GAIN participants, the program began with job search assistance, including job clubs and supervised job searches. Participants who did not obtain employment after these activities underwent formal assessments of their career goals and skills; developed an individual employment plan; and could engage in a variety of work, education, and training activities, including vocational or on-the-job training, unpaid work experience, supported work, and postsecondary education. Participants continued in GAIN until they found employment, left GAIN, or became exempt from the program for other reasons. GAIN participants were AFDC recipients in California. The GAIN evaluation occurred in six California counties: Alameda, Butte, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, and Tulare.
GAIN, a mandatory welfare-to-work program, provided a series of education, training, and job search activities to help recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) increase their employment and earnings.
GAIN provides a series of education, training, and work readiness activities tailored to participants’ education and skill levels to help recipients of federal financial assistance to families with children and no or low incomes increase their employment and earnings.
This program is operated at the county level in California, and, as a result, each county may have responded differently to the pandemic. Although we do not have information for all counties, we have learned that the Los Angeles County GAIN program is offering high school equivalency classes online. For more information, visit https://lacoegain.org/.