The Mission Inn Foundation is proud to announce that youth advocate and civic leader Dell Roberts has been selected as the recipient of the Frank Miller Civic Achievement Award for 2022. The award ceremony and celebratory dinner will take place on Thursday, May 19, 2022 at the historic Mission In Hotel & Spa.

The Frank Miller Civic Achievement Award was established in 1997 to honor individuals, couples or groups who have made a significant contributions to the city and community of Riverside. Frank Augustus Miller’s tradition of civic leadership and devotion to this community carries on in the efforts of many leaders and innovators working to promote and enhance the city of Riverside today. It is with Miller’s devotion to community in mind, that the Mission Inn Foundation presents the Frank Miller Civic Achievement Award to Dell Roberts.

Dell may indeed be the most prominent youth advocate and civic leader the city of Riverside has ever known. Born in Houston, Texas in 1936, his family moved to Riverside in 1945 and became a fixture in the city’s Eastside neighborhood.

Dell distinguished himself at Longfellow, University Heights, Poly High School, and Riverside City College as an athlete and tireless worker, supporting his family in countless ways. Among other jobs, he went to work for Butcher Boys at age 15, eventually becoming head of their hamburger operation and mentor to the owners Harry and Mary Robert’s, son Duane.

By 1961, still juggling a series of jobs, including football and wrestling coach, he and his wife, Lula, high school sweethearts, had three sons. His oldest son was a student at Lowell Elementary School in September of 1965 when it burned. He was subsequently bussed to Pachappa Elementary to continue his education. During that difficult period, Dell became the “unofficial” eyes and ears for school board chairman Arthur Littleworth as he led the effort to voluntarily integrate Riverside’s schools. It was during this time period as well that Dell’s wife Lula began a 15-year battle with cancer.

Because of his credibility with young people, in 1968 Riverside Unified School District (RUSD) lured him from Butcher Boy and his “part-time” job as a campus supervisor to become a full-time Special Assistant to the principal in charge of discipline at Poly High School. In this role he also started the Black Student Union and Multi-cultural Council, allowing him to expand his base of operations to students who were not necessarily “in trouble.” By 1989 he was promoted to the District Office to oversee discipline and security-wide with 56 campus supervisors under his direction. As he said, he made a point of hiring people who love kids. “In Riverside, I think all kids are ‘mine’.”

Since his retirement from RUSD in 2003, Dell has continued his youth advocacy and, along with his wife Carmen, established a foundation — the Adrian Dell and Carmen Roberts Foundation—which focuses on developing events and activities that promote positive family and cultural interaction for the community of Riverside as a whole.

As one unabashed fan said, “Everyone should have a Dell Roberts in their life.” He has had an impact on countless Riverside youth whose lives he has touched in meaningful and productive ways. He is a tireless champion of the possible.