Jorge Elorza

In January 2020, Elorza unveiled a "Great Streets" initiative to create a framework of public space improvements to encourage walking, riding bicycles, and public transit. The plan includes establishing an "Urban Trail Network" which includes 60 miles of bicycle paths, bike lanes, and greenways within Providence.

In August 2019, Elorza married Stephanie Gonzalez, a former Central Falls city council member. The pair welcomed a baby boy in June 2018.

On September 12, 2018, Elorza won renomination to the Mayor's office over challengers Kobi Dennis and Robert DeRobbio. He subsequently won the general election.

In 2017, the city signed a $400,000 contract with a private Silicon Valley company to introduce the first bicycle sharing program to the city, supported by local hospitals and RIPTA. Shortly after the program started in September 2018, the bicycles became associated with a "wave of vandalism and criminal activity" including widespread thefts of bicycles, bikes tossed into the Providence river, and even a company tech held at gunpoint. The company suspended the program in August 2019.

Elorza's government faced a budget shortfall during his first year. However, in October 2016, Elorza announced a $9.5 million budget surplus for the 2015-2016 budget year. This was Providence's largest surplus in at least 20 years. Critics claimed the surplus was partly due to not hiring needed police and firefighters.

Elorza faced a long fight with the city's firefighters union over schedule changes. In September 2016, after 13 months of lawsuits, arbitration, and sometimes nasty public exchanges, Elorza and the president of the union finally came to an agreement.

Following the November 2016 Presidential election, Elorza established the "One Providence" initiative to respond to reports of increased hate crimes against Muslims, LGBTQ people, and minorities in Providence. The initiative includes a new "hotline" to report crime, and the establishment of a Muslim-American advisory board. The initiative was established to "protect and serve every resident of the city" without regard to race, ethnicity, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, political affiliation, religion or disability. While the mayor vowed to protect undocumented immigrants from attempts at unfair deportation by the Trump administration, he said he has no plans to establish Providence as a "sanctuary city."

In 2016, Elorza set a goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050. Elorza is a supporter of improving the city’s biking infrastructure, and in 2017 a new greenway opened in Roger Williams Park. Elorza leads a quarterly bicycle ride through Providence called "Bike the Night" to highlight the city's cycling infrastructure.

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 5 January 2015 was sworn in as mayor of the city.

The Providence mayoral race in 2014 was Elorza's first try at elective office. He was sworn in as mayor on 5 January 2015 on the steps of Providence City Hall. In his inaugural speech, Elorza promised to deliver "a city that works".

Elorza presided over an expansion of new, high-tech parking meters in Providence. Between January 2015 and September 2016, Elorza's administration increased the number of metered parking spaces by 50 percent, from 1,400 to 2,100. Critics of the plan say that the meters hurt local business, and that the reduced tax revenue from businesses hurt by the meters is greater than the increased revenue from the parking fees.

After the death of a hometown friend, Elorza left Wall Street and returned to Rhode Island. Elorza teaches law at the Roger Williams University School of Law. In 2010 he was appointed to the Providence Housing Court, where he replaced Angel Taveras.

Elorza's parents immigrated from Guatemala in 1975. Jorge Elorza was born and raised in the West End of Providence, Rhode Island. He attended local public schools, including Asa Messer elementary, Bridgham middle school, and Classical High School. The first of his family to attend college, he enrolled at the Community College of Rhode Island before transferring to the University of Rhode Island. He worked as an auditor for PricewaterhouseCoopers in New York, and then attended Harvard Law School, where he graduated with a Juris Doctor.