Tonight's Guest: Ben Helphand

Ben Helphand is co-chairing the 35th annual conference of the American Community Gardening Association. He's also executive director of NeighborSpace, a nonprofit urban land trust that preserves and sustains Chicago's community-managed open spaces.

A grassroots form of community development, community gardens' scale and largely urban presence foster new ideas. Somewhere in the world's community gardens there is every permutation of growing things and using space to: grow food, flowers and healthy people; create beauty and foster recreation; teach new skills; and make communities more alive. In what amounts to a survey of cutting edge issues, Ben gives examples of Chicago gardens, describes plans for speakers, tours, and workshops, and conveys these gardens' remarkable contributions to communities.