PRESS ADVISORY
July 22, 2010

Contact: Lauren Nocera | Lauren@AngelForProvidence.com | 401-529-9684 

STATE REPRESENTATIVE GRACE DIAZ ENDORSES ANGEL TAVERAS FOR MAYOR

PROVIDENCE - State Representative Grace Diaz (D-11) today endorsed Angel Taveras for Mayor of Providence and urged city voters to support him.  

“I support Angel because he knows the critical role that a strong public education can play in the lives of our young people," said Diaz.  "Angel has the courage and the vision to tackle the problems in our schools and to bring people together to win real changes in the lives of our children. In addition, with his inspiring story of going from Head Start to Harvard through the Providence public school system, Angel Taveras will be an incredible role model for our city’s children.  Angel is a new and impressive leader for Providence at this critical crossroads in the city's future.” 

Representative Diaz has represented the people of Washington Park, Elmwood and the West End for six years.  First elected in 2004, Diaz was the first Dominican-American woman elected to state office in the history of the United States.  As Representative, she has served as chair of the Permanent Legislative Commission on Child Care and has been a strong voice on the issue of early childhood education.  In 2008, Rep. Diaz was named the First Vice-Chair of the Rhode Island Democratic Party. 

“I am humbled and honored by the support of Representative Diaz, an amazing city leader who has spent the last decade fighting to improve the lives of children and families in Providence,” said Taveras.  “Since the beginning of this campaign, I have been committed to uniting a broad and diverse coalition of city residents.  With these endorsements, we continue to build that coalition.” 

In the first four months after announcing his campaign for Mayor, Angel Taveras has built a wide-ranging coalition of supporters including State Senator Juan Pichardo, State Senator Rhoda Perry, State Representative Edith Ajello, State Representative Grace Diaz, City Councilman Kevin Jackson, City Councilman Cliff Wood, City Councilman Leon Tejada, City Councilman Miguel Luna, Meeting St. CEO John Kelly, Drinking Liberally founder Chris Blazejewski, attorney Casby Harrison, former US Attorney Meg Curran, attorney Kas DeCarvalho, youth jobs leader Andrew Cortes, community leader Jim Vincent, former Common Cause director Phil West, activist Tomas Avila, Ward 9 Democratic chairman Russell Conway, veteran political leader Victor Capellan, and previous gubernatorial candidate and former state senator Myrth York.  
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