Leadership

Staff

The Right Question Institute is led by Co-Directors Luz Santana and Dan Rothstein, who are part of the founding core of the organization, and the new Director of the K-12 Inititative, Steven Flythe.

Luz Santana, M.A., has modeled in her own life--raising her family on welfare, working on the factory floor, going back to school and then sharing her new skills with others--much of what we aim to accomplish through the work of the organization. She has extensive experience designing and implementing applications of the educational strategy in work in low-income communities, and she is recognized nationally for the participatory trainings and workshops she has designed and facilitated. Luz was chosen as a Community Fellow at M.I.T, and the Merrimack Valley Woman of the Year. She has served as a parent advocate in Lawrence, MA, and as an adjunct faculty member at the Springfield College - Boston Campus. In 1996, she received a Master's Degree from the Springfield College School of Human Services. (email: luz at rightquestion dot org)

Dan Rothstein, Ed.D., has spent many years learning from the people with whom he has worked and has applied those lessons to designing strategies to promote more effective advocacy and citizen participation efforts. Prior to his work with RQI, he developed and implemented programs in Kentucky, Massachusetts, and Israel as a community educator, organizer and urban planner. He served as Director of Neighborhood Planning for the City of Lawrence, MA and was a Fulbright Scholar and one of the very few non-academics to be chosen as a National Academy of Education Spencer Fellow. He graduated from Harvard College and earned a doctorate in Education and Social Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education where he served as an editor of The Harvard Educational Review.  (email: dan at rightquestion dot org)

Steven Flythe, M. Div., has recently joined the staff at the Right Question Institute as the Director ofthe K-12 Initiative. He is an experienced educator with extensive experience designing and implementing solutions to the systems and conditions that perpetuate social, economic and educational inequalities. Prior to joining RQI Steven designed and coordinated Project EOS (Education-Opportunity-Success) a college and career readiness program sponsored by the Harlem Children’s Zone. He served as the National Chairperson of the National Committee on the Self Development of People. Steven holds a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and an M. Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary.  He is a doctoral candidate in International Educational Development at Teachers College, Columbia University. (email: steven at rightquestion.org)

Board

The Right Question Institute Board provides strong support for the work of RQI staff to develop a new model for building capacity in low-income communities, for identifying ways for systemic integration of RQI methods and for the development of the concept of Microdemocracy. The Board includes a former Head Start parent, frontline staff in different fields and professions, university scholars and a wide range of extensive civic expertise in various fields.

 

Agnes S. Bain, Treasurer:  Professor of Government, Suffolk University
 
Lavada Berger:  Strategy consultant at Monitor Group 
 
Macky Buck, Clerk: Family day care provider and early childhood educator
 
Diane Englander, President: Artist and consultant to non-profit organizations
 
Franklin M. Fisher: Professor Emeritus of Microeconomics, MIT; Director, National Bureau of Economic Research
 
Gail Fuller: Director of Communications, Rockefeller Brothers Fund
 
David Guberman: Assistant Attorney General, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
 
Dan Rothstein: Co-Director, The Right Question Institute
 
Ron Walker: Executive Director, Coalition of Schools Educating Boys of Color
 
Stephen Quatrano: Cisco Systems, Inc.
 
Enid Shapiro: Social work consultant, Simmons College Incorporator
 
Mary Wendell, Vice-President: Board Chair Forbes House Museum, Milton, MA

 

National Advisory Board

Archon Fung: Ford Foundation Professor of Democracy and Citizenship, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

Craig Kennedy: President, The German Marshall Fund

Bill Kovach: Chair, Committee of Concerned Journalists

Martha Minow: Dean, Harvard Law School

Wendy Puriefoy: President, The Public Education Network

Funding

Financial support for RQI comes from three sources: Individual donors, Service-related revenue and Foundation grants.

Individual Donors

We are deeply grateful to the many individual donors who provide essential support for the work of The Right Question Institute (RQI). Donors support the:

  • development of RQI’s innovative educational strategy that helps people learn to become more self-sufficient
  • dissemination of the strategy to organizations and programs all around the country
  • development of new methods and new ideas for building the capacity of all people, no matter their educational or literacy level, to participate in democracy on all levels and to make democracy work betters.

Service-related revenue

We also support our work with income from providing consulting and training services as well as through sales of materials and curricula.

Foundation Grants

RQI’s innovative work also receives strong support from private foundations. The following are some of the funders who have supported our work in various fields:

  • The Boston Foundation
  • The Cabot Family Charitable Trust
  • Carnegie Corporation
  • The Germanacos Foundation
  • Jane’s Trust
  • The Jane B. Cook 1992 Charitable Trust
  • The Joyce Foundation
  • The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
  • Partners HealthCare Community Benefits
  • Rockefeller Brothers Fund
  • The Rhode Island Foundation
  • The Proteus Fund
  • The Wallace Foundation
  • The Whitman Institute