Boston Scenes

Norris Waldron takes a break from kite flying with Danae, 1, and Kaylani, 3, at the Boston Kite and Bike Festival at Franklin Park on Saturday, May 14. The once-annual Kite Festival was resurrected this year by Discover Roxbury and the Franklin Park Coalition. (Eric Esteves photo)

Children march in the 11th Annual Haitian-American United Parade, organized by the Haitian-Americans United, Inc., on Blue Hill Avenue on Sunday, May 15, 2011. (Photo courtesy of Haitian-Americans United, Inc.)

Freedom Trail Foundation Player Jeremy Murphy, an 18th century costumed guide, educates school children about the Neal family children who are laid to rest in the Granary Burying Ground. The historic site is slated for improvements this year to be undertaken by the Boston Parks and Recreation Department and funded in part by a $125,000 grant from the Freedom Trail Foundation’s Preservation Fund. (Photo courtesy of the Freedom Trail Foundation)

The Boston Student Advisory Council organized a rally at City Hall Plaza on May 12 to advocate for student feedback in the teacher evaluation process. Current and former Boston Public Schools students attended, including Esteniolla Maitre (l), a senior at Boston Arts Academy and the student representative on the Boston School Committee, and Damien Leach, a BPS graduate and student at the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology. (Eric Esteves photo)

Raffle winner Forstine Jackson-Bartell is presented with a Dunkin’ Donuts gift basket by Mayor Thomas M. Menino at the May 11 Neighborhood Coffee Hour hosted at Marcella Playground by the Boston Parks and Recreation Department and Dunkin’ Donuts. (Jon Seamans photo)

 More than 850 people attended last month’s Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council (GNEMSDC) Annual Awards Gala and were treated to a powerful message from Rev. Jesse Jackson, shown here with U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-CT, Joset Wright, president, National Minority Supplier Development Council and Fred McKinney, president and CEO, GNEMSDC. Among the awards winners were Beth Williams, president and CEO of Roxbury Technology shown here with Claudia Munoz-Najar of United Technologies Corporation.

During his rousing speech, Jackson said that the last front of the civil rights movement is black business. “Access to capital and markets for minorities is the final stage of the struggle,” Jackson said pointing out that “We are free but we are not equal.”

The GNEMSDC is a corporate membership organization dedicated to building strong relationships between corporations, the public sector and certified minority businesses.