Providence Wins $5 Million Grand Prize in Mayors Challenge

Providence Journal

PROVIDENCE, R. I. -- Bloomberg Philanthropies has chosen Providence as the top winner of its Mayor Challenge.

The $5 million prize will be used to implement Mayor Angel Taveras' initiative, Providence Talks, to increase the vocabulary of young students living in low-income homes before their fourth birthday. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg previously said the challenge was launched in the fall of 2012 to inspire innovation in local government, and spread the very best ideas. Three hundred and five cities competed, and Providence was awarded the top prize because it had "the best potential to take root and spread," read challenge rules. The initiative coincides with the mayor's goal to increase reading proficiency to 70 percent for entering fourth graders by 2015. In Providence, less than half of the district's fourth-grade students scored at or above proficiency on the state reading assessment in 2011.

More about "Providence Talks" here and here.

This initiative is based on the research done by Hart and Risley, as described in their book "Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Life of Young American Children."

Posted by Laurie Frost at March 14, 2013 1:36 PM
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