The cost-effectiveness and 3-year impacts of California's Greater Avenues for Independence (GAIN) program, which is a statewide initiative aimed at increasing the employment and self-sufficiency of recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), were evaluated by studying follow-up data for 33,000 people from 6 counties who entered GAIN between early 1988 and mid-1990. Sample members were randomly classified as experimentals (people subject to GAIN's participation requirements) or controls (people precluded from the GAIN program but free to seek other services in the community on their own). The employment, earnings, and welfare outcomes of the experimentals and controls were then compared. GAIN produced earnings gains and welfare savings for both single parents and heads of two-parent families. In their third year after orientation, GAIN participants' earnings were 25% higher than the controls' earnings. GAIN substantially increased participation in job search and basic education, and it reduced the proportion of experimentals who were on AFDC during the last quarter of year 3 by 3%. GAIN's impacts varied by county. (Contains 30 references. A total of 154 tables/figures are included in the report and appendixes. Also appended are analyses of the survey responses and AFDC case closure/recidivism.) (MN)