By News Staff
news@abc6.com
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PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Mayor Angel Taveras was a Michael Bloomberg fan long before the New York mayor's charity awarded Providence $5 million for its proposal to boost language skills of poor children.
The Providence mayor says he often looks at Bloomberg's response to a particular urban problem when crafting his policy goals, and cites the New York mayor's work to ban flavored tobacco products marketed to children and efforts to strengthen gun laws as examples of his leadership.
Taveras' praise for his fellow mayor comes after Bloomberg Philanthropies selected Providence as the winner of its Mayors Challenge. Providence's program will equip poor children with devices that count the words they hear and provide parental coaching to boost children's language skills.
Studies show poor children enter school having heard millions of fewer words than more affluent children.
