In the Field

Life is made up of a series of decisions. So is Democracy. Some important ones get noticed, many are missed.

The Right Question Project (RQP) educational strategy helps all people focus more sharply on key decisions, ask good questions, participate more effectively in making those decisions and insist upon accountable decision-making.

Being able to focus on decisions and ask your own questions can make all the difference. And, the skills are universally relevant, as proven by the many fields in which RQP’s strategy has been applied.

They used to tell me to jump and I’d say ‘how high. Now, I ask ‘why?’

— Welfare client in New Hampshire

After I started to ask questions, I could just see the look on their faces, ‘how’did you get so smart?

— Parent of school child in Kentucky

Now, when I go to meetings where people are making decisions that really affect my family, I don’t have to just sit there, not knowing what to say. I think about what I want to know and what I need to know and then I ask the question. What a difference!

— Resident of the Big Island of Hawaii, one of many laid-off sugar cane plantation workers who used RQP to participate in decision-making processes affecting them.

I didn’t know I could ask questions at the school. But, by doing that, I was able to get my son the services he needs.

— Homeless shelter resident in Massachusetts who learned to advocate for her hearing impaired son and secured an Individual Education Plan that met his needs

[before I learned RQP] I had no back bone and I learned how to ask questions, when to ask it, how to ask it at the right time. And I got places with it…Before I would just say, kind of like just leave it in God’s hands and whatever happens, happens… and this class taught me what questions to ask and when to ask them…I’ve got more guts to speak up for myself. Before I had doormat written across my forehead.

— New Hampshire Department of Children, Youth and Family Fact Sheet: "Impact of Family Empowerment Group on Clients"

I feel more confident [about voting now]. I think [about] how the president decision affect me.

— Arizona adult literacy student, after participating in a RQP voter engagement workshop.