Photo: Through GDYT, Deshawn Lewis of Detroit (center) received experience in a professional work environment and mentoring from MGM Grand Detroit team members including Director of Security Carl Clark and Assistant Shift Manager Alex Rojas.
From the moment we opened our doors in July 1999, MGM Grand Detroit has been concerned about jobs in a big way. MGM Grand Detroit is proud to have provided thousands of Detroit residents with employment that has allowed our team members to have a real stake in our city’s future.
But MGM Grand Detroit believes a true commitment to jobs and our city’s future must directly involve our youth and young adults. And that is why MGM Grand Detroit takes special pride in a longtime partnership with Grow Detroit’s Young Talent (GDYT), a citywide training and employment program for young adults between the ages of 14 and 24.
The strategic goals of GDYT are:
- Ensure young adults have meaningful summer work experiences that create pathways to future opportunities;
- Connect young adults to providers and employers that can support their career goals;
- Introduce employers to the next generation of Detroit’s workforce; and,
- Align Detroit’s youth workforce development programs to streamline service delivery and improve outcomes.
MGM Grand Detroit has been proud to be one of the funding organizations of GDYT, which in 2021 surpassed the 50,000 job milestone since the creation of the program. However, MGM Grand Detroit’s partnership with GDYT has been made extra special through the young adults that have worked directly for MGM Grand Detroit departments. That tradition continued in 2021 and 22-year-old Deshawn Lewis was glad to be a part of it.
“The program (GDYT) is something that I definitely would recommend,” said Lewis, who performed a variety of activities in the back of the house at MGM Grand Detroit during his job assignment in the security department. “It was my first time in the casino and I worked in a professional environment and I had an opportunity to talk to a lot of people–in and out of the security department.”
Lewis, a 2018 graduate of Detroit Delta Preparatory Academy, said he hopes the networking he was able to do will lead to even greater opportunities in the future.
“I was able to meet the director of security and a vice president,” said Lewis, describing his six impactful weeks at MGM Grand Detroit. “I definitely would like to have a career at MGM Grand Detroit. There’s a lot going on and a lot of things you can do, it’s just a matter of finding what works best for me.”
To learn more about Grow Detroit’s Young Talent, please visit gdyt.org
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