Manhattanites are divided over Park51, the planned community center funded by Muslims that will feature a Muslim prayer space referred to as “The Ground Zero Mosque,” being erected so close to former World Trade Center site. However, Park51 is offering a series of public information sessions over the next few months to educate both supporters and critics. According to Park51’s John Lichten, the weekly Q&A sessions will take place on Wednesdays, beginning this evening, and will run through December. Park51 developer Sharif El-Gamal will attend with the aim of describing the project and to answer probing, poignant questions.

Sessions will be limited to a dozen participants per week, so interested parties should email [email protected] in advance of their preferred attendance date. The sessions are not open to the media.

According to DNA Info, Lichten stated that “very early on, there were a number of misconceptions about what we were doing. We’ve been trying to clear them up [and] we want to get what we’re doing out there to the people who need to hear it the most.”

Do you think these sessions will truly help concerned New Yorkers understand Park51’s goals?