Joint Boston-Cambridge meeting focuses on retaining talent

City councillors from Boston and Cambridge held a joint meeting in late March to discuss a common concern: the number of graduates from area college who decide to pursue careers elsewhere.

The session featured Leland Cheung and Ken Reeves from Cambridge and Tito Jackson and Ayanna Pressley from Boston. The discussion focused on a recent report from the World Class Cities Partnership that suggests that difficulty finding a professional job after college is a larger factor than housing costs as a reason why graduates leaving Massachusetts.

The report also noted the need for more effective marketing of the Boston area’s assets.

While no consensus emerged among the four councillors, Cheung said they agreed that “there are a bunch of things that need to be done, in terms of integrating students into the community.”

Cambridge and Boston already are working with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston to increase the number of internships available to local college students, Cheung said.

The March 28 session marked the second time in recent years that Boston and Cambridge councillors have met formally. The first meeting, in 2010, focused on the possibility of coordinating economic development strategies.

One project, ultimately unsuccessful, was to obtain grant money to set up something akin to a regional chamber of commerce for entrepreneurs, Cheung said.

Reeves said that in 2010 he was skeptical about the value of the first joint meeting, but described the recent session as “a very useful exercise.”

Noting that the meeting took place on the day that Boston Mayor Thomas Menino announced he would not seek re-election, Reeves said the involvement of Boston’s next mayor will be important in future projects involving the two cities.