McDonald’s on Grimsby High Street helps inspire McDonald’s nationwide initiative – makin’ it

Over the last 18 months, McDonald’s on Grimsby High Street has been part of a national pilot to build Makin’ it, a programme that provides young people with genuine opportunity in the areas they live in.

Working alongside the police and other retailers in the town of Grimsby, McDonald’s established a brand-new, approachable youth zone just yards away from McDonald’s, which opened in December 2023. The zone provides a space for youth workers, classes for young people and support services for those facing challenging situations in their home lives.

Makin’ it will now be expanded nationally, with all 1,450 McDonald’s restaurants connected to youth services and the funding of 500 new youth work qualifications, in order to help unlock the potential of young people in every community. McDonald’s will also be diverting an unspent part of its Apprenticeship Levy to support more youth workers to undertake their youth work apprenticeship in England.

McDonald’s has committed to providing resource and funding to enable all young people to get access to genuine opportunities where they live, including music partnerships and sports programmes to be launched this Summer in partnership with Youth Music and Kick it Out.

Ayolt Kloosterboer, Franchisee of 3 restaurants across Grimsby, said: “Since taking over the Town City centre restaurant over six years ago, I have chaired GRIP, consisting of a collection of business leaders in the area looking to reduce anti-social behaviour and theft within Grimsby. This led us into working with local youth workers as we identified that the lack of opportunities for young people was the ultimate issue at hand. Working alongside these youth workers, and the police, I helped establish a brand-new, approachable youth zone just yards away from my restaurant and opened it in December 2023. The zone operated three days a week, and provides a space for youth workers, classes for young people and support services for those facing challenging situations in their home lives. This facility has made such a difference already, with many of my McDonald’s crew also lending their time to volunteer at the zone. Most significantly, we already seen a visible shift in crew happiness and engagement with young people in the restaurants which has been fantastic. The zone has only just opened, but we look forward to seeing how it can continue to help young people across Grimsby.”

New research commissioned by McDonald’s of 2,000 young people aged 16 to 24 across the UK, including those in the Northeast has highlighted the impact of growing challenges and uncertainty young people are facing when it comes to the future, with some stark issues raised when it comes to support, career opportunities and safe places to go.

Almost 1 in 2 (44%) nationally don’t feel there are enough projects in their area aimed at providing support and opportunities for them. Young people in the Northeast feel there is a lack of opportunity and barriers to success, with 52% changing their expectations for the future and almost a third (33%) admit they’ve become less ambitious altogether.

Almost three quarters (71%) of young people in the Northeast say they worry often about the future, yet only 11% of young people nationwide have a youth worker or counsellor to turn to for support.

To find out more about Makin’ it visit: https://mc-ds.uk/makinit

*Survey by OnePoll for McDonald’s from 5-15 April 2024 with 16-24 year olds Sample Number: 2000 (400 16-17, 1600 18-24)