College Retention Efforts Heating Up in Central MA

Friday, June 20, 2014

Nicholas Handy, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

In an effort to inspire more college students to stay in the Worcester area after graduation, the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce has become the next organization in the Central Massachusetts area to announce initiatives based on addressing student retention rates.

In partnership with the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, the Worcester Chamber of Commerce has announced their new initiative which aims to create partnerships with local businesses, colleges, and students, in an effort to create more internships and jobs to improve the student retention rate.

“One of our biggest priorities is helping to put together and populate internship opportunities in the Worcester area,” said Tim Murray, President and CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce. “The Chamber’s strength is that we have over 2,500 members and we are hoping that we can work with a significant portion of them to create more internship opportunities.”

In addition to creating the Higher Education-Business Partnership platform, the Chamber of Commerce recently announced a new position - Director of Higher Education-Business Partnerships – which was filled by Karen Pelletier. The Worcester Chamber of Commerce has also brought InternHub.com to the Central Massachusetts area, which is a website where internships can be posted and applied for.

Creating Partnerships

The Worcester Chamber of Commerce is excited to bring the program to the local community and create a variety of opportunities for local businesses, college students, and colleges and universities.

While the program is still very much in its infancy – just having been announce at the beginning of the week - Pelletier already has a wealth of goals for the program. She hopes that Worcester can use the blueprint installed in Boston and create a program that will be effective for Central Massachusetts.

“The partnership with Boston and the resources we have in Worcester really help to create a great opportunity to foster internships in the local community,” said Pellitier. “The program has been a proven success in Boston. We are excited to bring the program to Worcester and develop a variety of helpful programs.”

A Success Story

The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce has already implemented and seen success with the higher education business partnership program, to the point that they wanted to share their program with other regions throughout the state.

Paul Guzzi, the CEO of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, says that the program has been in use in Boston for the past three years. Having a few years under their belt, Guzzi says that Boston has seen a large growth in internship opportunities, something that Worcester can easily replicate.

“We are excited that Worcester is becoming a part of the program,” said Guzzi. “After all, the real important thing is for us to keep our students in Massachusetts. Talent is the most important thing that a state or region has; we need to do all that we can to foster our students and then keep them within the state.”