Jorge Elorza

Jorge Elorza is Chief Executive Officer of Democrats for Education Reform. Prior to this role, he served two terms as mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, from 2015 to 2023. During his tenure as mayor, he took the unprecedented step to engage the state Department of Education to turn around the city’s chronically underperforming school system, he created the city’s Eat, Play, Learn Initiative to expand out-of-school enrichment, and launched a nationally recognized African American Ambassador Group to bring Black leaders into the center of city policymaking. Notably, he invested $400 million into repairing school buildings, and supported the expansion of high-quality public charter schools. Born and raised in Providence, Mayor Elorza is a graduate of Classical High school, the University of Rhode Island, and Harvard Law School. Prior to being elected Mayor, he was a Legal Aid attorney, he served as a Providence Housing Court Judge, and he co-founded the Latino Policy Institute while he served as a Professor of Law at Roger Williams University School of Law. Mayor Elorza lives with his wife, Stephanie, and his son, Omar, in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Providence.