The Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) will be dedicating the Roosevelt Benton Youth Assessment Center in Cranston on Thursday, October 29 at 1:00 pm. The building, a juvenile correctional detention and assessment facility, is named for and being dedicated in memory of Roosevelt Benton who was deputy superintendent of the RI Training School.
The building was named for Mr. Benton because of his extensive and highly respected involvement in service to his country (as a member of the US Marine Corps and RI National Guard) and to his community (as a chairperson of the Providence School Board, Executive Director of the South Providence Boys and Girls Club, Board of Directors of OIC and involvement with numerous community agencies including Head Start, Urban League of RI, New Cities Apartments, Community Prep School, Times Two, NAACP, South Providence Tutorial, RI Skills Commission, Providence Dropout Prevention Collaborative, The Institute for the Study and Practice of Non-Violence and CYO).
Mr. Benton was the first African American to serve as an assistant to the Major of Providence and the first African American administrator at the Training School. Additionally, he was inducted into the Providence City Hall’s Martin Luther King Jr. Hall of Fame for his altruistic devotion to the community.
Speakers at the dedication will include DCYF Director Patricia Martinez, Senator Harold Metts, Attorney General Patrick Lynch, Chair of the RI Parole Board Kenneth Walker, and Providence NAACP President Cliff Montiero. Additionally, Sue Stenhouse will present a citation and greetings from the Governor. Joe Benton, brother of the late Roosevelt Benton, will be singing “Have a Little Faith in Me”, which was one of his favorite songs.
The Dedication of the Roosevelt Benton Assessment Center is open to the media.