Roxbury resident Jeter wins Small Business Champion awards

Jesse Cadet Jeter, founder, president and chair of the Boston-based Christian Economic Development Association (CEDA), has been named the 2007 U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Massachusetts Minority Small Business Champion award winner.

The Minority Small Business Champion Award is presented annually to an individual who has fulfilled a commitment to support minority entrepreneurship.

“Mr. Jeter is a powerful and very effective advocate for small businesses in his community,” said SBA Director Maurice L. Dubé. “As the founder of the Christian Economic Development Association, Inc., Mr. Jeter has directly touched the lives of the existing and aspiring small businesses in his community.

“Among other things, CEDA offers three excellent annual economically driven events to the community: their Money with a Purpose conference, trade and career-fair; their Business-to-Business symposium; and their Leadership and Wealth Summit,” Dubé continued. “The U.S. Small Business Administration is a proud participant in each of these events.”

Jeter founded CEDA, a multicultural, multi-racial, interdenominational, faith-based financial concepts organization in 2002. CEDA’s founders believe that they have been “called” to foster economic development through spiritual growth for Christians and non-Christians alike.

It is CEDA’s mission to educate the community about financial concepts and to help individuals acquire the knowledge, confidence and motivation to strive for and attain both personal and professional financial success.

In addition to his volunteer efforts at CEDA, Jeter is vice president of business development at Jet-A-Way, Inc., a waste disposal and recycling company, founded by his parents in 1969.

Jeter will be honored, along with nine other small business award winners, at an awards luncheon hosted by the Merrimack Valley Chamber of Commerce in Lawrence on May 11.

Seven candidates on ballot for District Two preliminary election

The Board of Election Commissioners reminds voters in City Council District Two that the last day to register to vote in the Special Preliminary Municipal Election is Wednesday, March 28.

The preliminary election will be held on Tuesday, April 17. All polling locations in City Council District Two will be open from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m.

Seven candidates will appear on the ballot for the Special Preliminary Election. A ballot position drawing was held in the Election Department on March 7, and the candidates will appear on the ballot in the following order: Robert O’Shea, Bill Linehan, Brian Mahoney, Susan Passoni, Mary Cooney, Bob Ferrara and Edward Flynn.

The two candidates with the most votes in the preliminary will move on to compete in the Special Municipal Election on Tuesday, May 15. The winning candidate of that election will complete the remainder of the term of the late City Councilor James Kelly.

In order to participate in these elections, voters must be registered to vote in City Council District Two. The Election Department, located in Room 241 at City Hall, will be open until 8 p.m. on March 28 to accommodate last-minute registrants.

Mail-in voter registration forms are available at libraries, community centers and health centers around the district, and may also be downloaded by visiting the Election Department page on the City of Boston website: www.cityofboston.gov/
elections. All mail-in registration forms must be postmarked by March 28 for the voter to be eligible to participate in the April special preliminary election.