Humans of Cranston is a recurring column showcasing the stories of Cranston residents’ community involvement, diversity and unique life perspectives.

Kyle Bennett is a husband, father and soon-to-be grandfather who has called Cranston home for the past eight years. His favorite part of the city is Pawtuxet Village, and he currently works for United Way of Rhode Island.

“I really think Cranston’s a beautiful city. There’s so much to see and do. I know that our CLCF and Edgewood families really enjoy the outdoors spaces and, at times, indoor spaces for football, outdoor hockey, basketball. But beyond that, I think we can continue to really [work with] the neighborhoods and make sure we’re connected better as one city, as one Cranston; really making sure that all 80,000 Cranstonians that live here have the same opportunity and promise for the future.

I work by day as a nonprofit advocate and people advocate at United Way. I support the public policy team and we focus on affordable housing, improving outcomes for our kids and increasing access to workforce opportunities for Rhode Islanders who are working hard but looking for family-sustaining wages, paid time off and full gamut of workforce …. This is my 17th year [at United Way]. I started as a fundraiser. I managed that team for about five to six years and then moved to policy and have been managing that team for about six to seven years.

Outside of that, I participate in several nonprofits. I was actually part of the initial group that helped found OneCranston – the initiative prior to them merging with the HEZ [health equity zone]. That was really exciting thinking about how the demographics of Cranston are shifting and how we can begin to address the needs of the new Cranstonians in a way that the city might not have had to traditionally. It’s been an exciting ride, and I’ve seen some longtime Cranstonians open their arms and welcome folks who are new and different to the community, and I’ve seen some others who say ‘hey, this is our city and we really want to keep the fabric of our culture and community consistent’ and everyone in between. So it’s really been a great time getting to know folks around the city from Edgewood all the way over to Western Cranston and everywhere in between.

My wife was raised in Cranston. She’s a Cranston East chick, so East versus West is a real thing. Later into life it is still a happy and healthy rivalry, but I also realize from East to West the opportunities for land access, for sizable yards and green open spaces are really different. The challenges of getting from East to West for people without their own form of transportation it’s pretty difficult – even if you have a bike. Trying to navigate Park Avenue on a bike is not easy, so thinking just about what could happen if the one street that runs the length and width of our city had a bus line or trolley line, how could that improve relations from one side of the city to the other? Those things that are easily fixable, I'm surprised we haven't already solved.

So when I think about Cranston West and the vo-tech program, it has some opportunities currently that are driving kids toward current employment availability. But when I think about the wind and solar, the green and blue economies and all of the opportunities that are coming, I know there’s more for us to do and they don’t only exist at that one school. I mean, creating really the opportunity for all our elementary school students, our middle school students, our high school students to begin to think about career pathways: how do these potential employment opportunities impact their lives and are also available to them so they tie that classroom experience to a meaningful engagement when they’re testing… interviewing for an internship, summer job, a college or workforce opportunity. I think there’s so much more we can do for our youth.”

This project has been made possible by a Rhode Island Foundation Community Grant and the efforts of the OneCranston Health Equity Zone of Comprehensive Community Action, Inc. in partnership with the Cranston Herald and Timothy McFate. The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of Humans of Cranston participants do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the aforementioned parties. The presented stories are voluntarily provided, unpaid, and given verbatim except for correcting grammatical errors. Want to nominate a Cranston resident to be featured? Email JB at jfulbright@comcap.org.