The meeting was well-attended by alumni of the program, including Robin Harris, the principal of Fletcher-Maynard Academy in Cambridge, who credited Upward Bound for her success. “My parents had a little bit of something to do with that, but the MIT/Wellesley Upward Bound had a lot of something to do with that,” she said.

Upward Bound is geared toward low-income students and first-generation immigrants. According to the MIT Public Service Center, historically over 90 percent of graduates of the program have gone on to enroll in post-secondary education programs.

Vice-Mayor E. Denise Simmons moved to suspend the rules of procedure so the policy item could be discussed as one of the first orders of business, allowing the young advocates to hear the debate and the result of the vote.

Reeves, who expressed strong support of the program, described it as one of the first uses of federal funding for urban education to come out of the civil rights era. “This was a nation’s investment in the reality that everyone in America should be able to have the opportunity to make something of him or herself,” he said.

“The proof of the pudding is in the pudding,” he said, referring to the students in attendance. “This is very good pudding!”

The topic of funding for another social program occupied the later portion of the meeting.

Councillor Timothy J. Toomey, a longtime supporter of affordable housing, expressed frustration during the discussion of renewing the 80-10-10 scheme, which appropriates 80 percent of Community Preservation Act funds for affordable housing, 10 percent for historical preservation, and 10 percent for open space.