Indy, McDonald’s Teaming Up For Summer Jobs Program

Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett’s office is teaming up with EmployIndy and McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) for a new summer youth jobs partnership. The initiative, which will include recent enhancements to the McDonald’s education program Archways to Opportunity, aims to connect young adults ages 16 to 24 with job opportunities throughout the Indianapolis area.

Hogsett’s office says McDonald’s will seek to hire more than 1,000 young people at its Indianapolis restaurants this summer. Through the Archways program, a student starting their first summer job and working 15 hours per week will be eligible for $2,500 of tuition assistance annually after only 90 days of employment. 

Randy Shields, a McDonald’s owner and operator in Indy, says combining the mayor’s program with the availability of jobs in Indy provides a great opportunity for students looking for their first job.

"This is going to allow us to be a bigger part of the community by helping more kids, get them out and learn what their first job is all about," said Shields. "I hope that we actually get a lot of kids that can, first of all, learn about working and second, be a stepping stone to whether they want a career in the restaurant industry, which is growing. It’s giving them a chance to learn the ropes."

This summer, McDonald’s plans to hire more than 10,500 young people throughout the state.

McDonald’s expanded its Archways program by tripling tuition assistance for employees, lowering eligibility requirements from nine months to 90 days of employment and dropping the weekly shift minimums from 20 hours to 15. Shields says since the program was launched in 2015, more than $1 million in tuition assistance has been awarded to nearly 1,200 Indiana McDonald’s employees.