On July 24, McDonald’s owner/operators from the Flint area were joined by Flint
Mayor Sheldon Neeley, State Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, Mott Community College
President Beverly Walker-Griffea, Ph.D., Genesee Chamber COO Kristina Johnston and
local economic leaders to announce that McDonald’s plans to hire 620 employees in the Flint
area, including 250 in the city of Flint. It’s part of a statewide effort by McDonald’s to hire more than 10,000 new employees in the coming months.
Neeley thanked the McDonald’s corporation for bringing much-needed jobs to the Flint community. He said he worked at McDonald’s himself in college, and his oldest daughter started her work life at McDonald’s, as well.
Ananich said the jobs were being made available at a time Michigan needs the opportunities. As a former high school teacher, Ananich said he knows too many young people were not able to attend higher education institutions or receive additional skills training because they couldn’t afford it.
“When I taught over at Northern, I know many of my students were so excited when their first job many times was at Sam’s Clio road (McDonald’s) store,” Ananich said. “They ended up learning hard work, dedication, customer service and really fostered their ability to get better jobs just from that experience in the first place, not even counting the Archways to Opportunity Program, which helps relieve the burden of providing eligible employees to earn and learn and achieve a college degree while gaining on the job experience.”
After thanking McDonald’s, Walker-Griffea said many of Mott’s alumni, faculty and staff can trace their early beginnings to McDonald’s. She said she hoped some of the approximate 10,600 new McDonald’s employees statewide would find their ways to Mott’s campus.
Johnston thanked McDonald’s for staying open during the pandemic. She also said McDonald’s has been a great partner to the Flint and Genesee Chamber of Commerce, putting many teens to work through the Teen Quest and summer work initiative.
This year marks the five-year anniversary of McDonald’s Archways to Opportunity program and
so far, McDonald’s has given out more than $100 million in tuition assistance and supported
more than 55,000 restaurant workers and corporate employees. Eligible after just 90 days and
15 hours a week, restaurant employees can earn a high school diploma and receive $2,500 in
upfront college tuition assistance. Restaurant employees can also access free education and
career advising services and the opportunity to learn English as a second language. Archways
to Opportunity has proven to promote opportunity and mobility for McDonald’s diverse employee
community. More than 50% of the participants are individuals who identify as people of
color and almost two-thirds of participants are women. To date, McDonald’s has given out more
than $715,000 in tuition assistance and supported 370 restaurant employees in Michigan.
McDonald’s has implemented nearly 50 new safety procedures. These include wellness and temperature checks, social distancing floor stickers, protective barriers at order points, masks and gloves for
employees with the addition of new procedures and training for the opening of dining rooms.
In addition to Archways to Opportunity, McDonald’s continues to invest in the communities in
which it serves through two major scholarship programs, HACER® National Scholarships and
Thurgood Marshall Black and Positively Golden Scholarships.
Job seekers can visit McDonalds.com/careers to learn more and apply to a restaurant near
them, or text ‘worksforme’ to 36453 to start an application via text.” They can also start a job
application by saying, “Alexa, help me get a job at McDonald’s” to any Alexa device or saying,
"Hey Google, help me get a job at McDonald’s” to any device with the Google Assistant built-in.
Potential applicants will receive a text message shortly thereafter with a link to continue their
application process.
