Boston Scenes

Several smiling attendees avail themselves of the face-painting artist at the recent third annual Service Employees International Union Local 1199 (1199SEIU) health awareness cookout, held Sunday, Aug. 23, 2009. The event, sponsored by the local health care workers’ union, provided free family fun, free food, games and more. (Photo courtesy of 1199SEIU)

Meesuka Morelus (right) and Dantong Chen were among the recent high school graduates whose achievements were honored on Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2009, at the University of Massachusetts-Boston (UMB). More than 200 Boston Public Schools graduates gathered before going to college. Morelus graduated from Brighton High School. Chen graduated from the John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science. Both will attend UMB. (Photo courtesy of the Boston Foundation)

Jada Noel Garcia (left) and her friend Zulmarie Gonzalez, both of Roxbury, recently attended the fourth annual Girls Summit, co-hosted by Boston Centers for Youth and Families (BCYF) and the Simmons Institute for Leadership and Change. The event brings together girls from across the city for a day of learning, inspiration and fun. (Photo courtesy of BCYF)

The numerous panelists and participants in the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice’s recent conference, entitled “Striking the Right Balance: Addressing Our Individual and Collective Responsibilities to Families and Communities,” pose for a photograph. The conference took place on Wednesday morning, Aug. 12, 2009, and was held in the performing arts center at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School in Oak Bluffs, Mass. (Don West photo, http://www.donwestfoto.com/)

Women came together from Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., to discover the history of black Paris. Shown here at the Louvre are (seated) Jennifer Burdon, (front row, from left) Catherine Clark, Kimmie Jackson, Kathy Taylor, Marie Smith, Jacqueline Thomas, Thelma Baxter, Enid Rocha, Anne Frazier, Monique Wells, Jane Smith, (second row, from left) Sheila Banks, Shirley Tucker, Gwendolyn Pla, Iral Davis Porter, Melva Jackson, Carolyn Hebsgaard, Doris Hayes, Heather Hayes, Gloria Johnson and (third row) Tom Reeves. (Photo courtesy of Road Scholar/Elderhostel)

On Aug. 13, 2009, and Aug. 14, 2009, Boston-based nonprofit organizations Friends of Fort Point Channel hosted Mytown’s teen Youth Guides on a guided boat tour, courtesy of the Free Channel Boat Tour Program. The hour-long tours departed by The Daily Catch restaurant, and student passengers learned about the uses of the channel, the Fort Point neighborhood’s industrial history, its the local artist community and more. (Photo courtesy of Friends of Fort Point Channel)

Roxbury’s Cosi Onyeme, 9, works on her tennis skills with Tenacity’s youth tennis program at the White Stadium Sports Center in Dorchester’s Franklin Park. The Sports Center is free of charge to Boston residents and open to boys and girls ages 7 to 14 who are interested in learning progressive skill development for various sports. (Colleen Junco photo)