Angel Taveras (born August 18, 1970) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 37th mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, from 2011 to 2015. Taveras was the first Hispanic mayor of the city and the third elected and fourth serving

Dominican-American Dominican Americans ( es, domínico-americanos, ) are Americans who trace their ancestry to the Dominican Republic. The word may refer to someone born in the United States of Dominican descent or to someone who has migrated to the United Stat ...

mayor in the United States.

Early life and education

Taveras' parents emigrated from the Dominican Republic in the mid-1960s. Taveras was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, but his family moved to Providence a few years later. Angel grew up on the South Side of Providence where he attended the

Head Start Program Head Start is a program of the United States Department of Health and Human Services that provides comprehensive early childhood education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement services to low-income children and families. The program's s ...

and the Providence Public Schools, graduating from

Classical High School Classical High School, founded in 1843, is a public magnet school in the Providence School District, in Providence, Rhode Island. It was originally an all-male school but has since become co-ed. Classical's motto is ''Certare, Petere, Reperire, ...

in 1988, in the same class as future Cranston mayor

Allan Fung Allan Wai-Ket Fung (born February 25, 1970) is an American attorney and politician who served as Mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island from 2009 to 2021. He was the Republican nominee for Governor of Rhode Island in the 2014 and 2018 elections as we ...

. Taveras attended

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

as an undergraduate, graduating with honors. Taveras was named an

Echoing Green In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the list ...

Fellow in 1992 for creating an after-school program and summer camp at Elmwood Community Center. He earned a J.D. degree at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

, and then served as a lawyer in Providence with Brown Rudnick LLP. After a 2000 Congressional run, Taveras started his own small law firm, focusing on civic advocacy and elections law.

Political career

In 2007, Providence Mayor

David Cicilline David Nicola Cicilline (; born July 15, 1961) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 36th mayor of Providence from 2003 to 2011, the first openly ...

appointed Taveras an Associate Judge on the Providence Housing Court.

Mayor of Providence

In 2010, Taveras stepped down from his judicial position to run for mayor of Providence in that year's mayoral election. In a four-way Democratic primary, Taveras won with 49% of the vote. Angel would go on to win the general election with 82% of the vote, and was sworn in as the 37th mayor of Providence, Rhode Island. Under Taveras' leadership, Providence was recognized with the

All-America City Award The All-America City Award is a community recognition program in the United States given by the National Civic League. The award recognizes the work of communities in using inclusive civic engagement to address critical issues and create stronge ...

from the

National Civic League The National Civic League is an American nonpartisan, non-profit organization founded in 1894 with a mission to advance civic engagement to create equitable, thriving communities. The League envisions a country where the full diversity of communi ...

for its plan to boost third grade reading proficiency and the Bloomberg Philanthropies' Mayors Challenge for its innovative proposal to improve the vocabularies of pre-school age children. In 2013, Taveras presided over some of the first same-sex marriages in Rhode Island.

"Fiscal hurricane"

Taveras came into the mayor's office facing a $110-million deficit. He made various financial agreements with city institutions and won pension concessions from unions to address the city's "fiscal hurricane". Taveras was praised for avoiding filing for bankruptcy in 2012.

Education

Taveras' term was known for advances in education. He launched Providence Talks, an effort to close the "

word gap The term 30-million-word gap (often shortened to just word gap) was originally coined by Betty Hart and Todd R. Risley in their book ''Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children'', and subsequently reprinted in th ...

" by tracking the number of words young children hear at home. The program also offered in-home visits from educators. Monies for the program came from a $5-million grant from the

Bloomberg Philanthropies Bloomberg Philanthropies is a philanthropic organization that encompasses all of the charitable giving of founder Michael R. Bloomberg. Headquartered in New York City, Bloomberg Philanthropies focuses its resources on five areas: the environmen ...

Mayors Challenge. Taveras was also awarded the "Pacesetter Award" for his efforts on early learning from the White House.

Gubernatorial run

On Oct. 28, 2013, Taveras officially announced his bid for the 2014 gubernatorial election in the Meeting Street School library on Eddy Street in Providence. Taveras was endorsed by the Rhode Island Alliance of Social Service Employees, which represents approximately 900 administrative, technical and social service workers in state government, the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 400, which 400 workers in the Rhode Island departments of Transportation and Environmental Management, and Council 94, American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employee, the largest Rhode Island union for public sector employees. On September 9, 2014, Taveras lost his Democratic primary bid for Rhode Island Governor to RI State Treasurer

Gina Raimondo Gina Marie Raimondo (; born May 17, 1971) is an American politician, lawyer, and venture capitalist who has served as the 40th United States Secretary of Commerce since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the 75th go ...

with 35,803 votes out of 122,757 votes cast. Taveras' one term as Mayor of Providence ended in 2015. He was the first elected mayor in 74 years to serve only four years. He was succeeded by

Jorge Elorza Jorge O. Elorza (born November 24, 1976) is an American law professor and mayor of Providence, Rhode Island. He defeated former mayor Buddy Cianci in the 2014 mayoral election and on January 5, 2015, was sworn in as mayor of the city. Early lif ...

References

External links

Mayor's Office – City of ProvidenceCampaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taveras, Angel 1970 births 21st-century American politicians American politicians of Dominican Republic descent Candidates in the 2014 United States elections Classical High School alumni Georgetown University Law Center alumni Harvard College alumni Hispanic and Latino American mayors Living people Mayors of Providence, Rhode Island Politicians from Brooklyn Rhode Island Democrats Rhode Island lawyers