Mapping Queens: Innovators in Green Spaces
Sep 16, 2026
Date: Wednesday, September 16, 2026
Location: Queens Botanical Garden (Visitors & Administration Building, 43-50 Main St, Flushing, NY 11355)
Doors: 6:00 PM | Panel: 6:30 PM
Admission: FREE
Join us at Queens Botanical Garden for the next installment of Mapping Queens, a conversation series presented through the Queens Cultural Mapping Initiative highlighting the people and organizations shaping Queens’ cultural landscape.
Moderated by Natalie Bedon, Project Manager of the Queens Cultural Mapping Initiative, this conversation will feature community garden leaders from across the borough:
- Clarissa James — Garden of Resilience, Springfield Gardens
- Jackie Rogers — The Garden by the Bay, Rockaways
- Jaclyn Soto — South Jamaica Infinity Garden
- Nicolás Linares — Mazorca Colectiva
Together, these leaders are transforming green spaces into places where neighbors can gather, grow, learn, create, and build community.
Panelists will share what inspires their work, the challenges of sustaining community green spaces, and their visions for the future. The conversation will be followed by audience Q&A and a mixer.
Drinks and light refreshments will be available.
About Queens Botanical Garden
Queens Botanical Garden is a 39-acre urban oasis in Flushing that brings people, plants, and cultures together through gardens, environmental education, community programs, and cultural events. As a gathering place for one of the most diverse communities in the world, the Garden provides opportunities for visitors to connect with nature and one another while supporting environmental stewardship across Queens.
Clarisa James is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of DIVAS for Social Justice, where she has worked to create community-centered programs that use technology, arts, and environmental justice to empower young people and strengthen neighborhoods. Garden of Resilience is the only community garden serving Springfield Gardens, Rosedale, and Laurelton. The community garden was co-founded and established by youth of DIVAS for Social Justice, Clarisa James & Melva Miller.
Garden of Resilience, stewarded by DIVAS for Social Justice, transforms green space into a resource for community gathering, education, food growing, and neighborhood resilience. The garden has hosted outdoor learning and community programming while creating a shared green space for residents of Southeast Queens.
DIVAS for Social Justice is a community-based organization that uses STEAM education, the arts, and environmental justice to empower young people and strengthen neighborhoods. Through initiatives like the Garden of Resilience, DIVAS creates opportunities for learning, community connection, and local environmental action.
Jackie Rogers, President of both The Garden by the Bay and Edgemere Alliance, works to amplify and strengthen her community's quality of life. She advocates for community equity, environmental resilience, and equitable investments for the Edgemere community in Far Rockaway through work that brings together gardening, environmental advocacy, stewardship, public programming in blue and green spaces, and neighborhood organizing.
The Garden by the Bay is a 14,450-square-foot community garden and greenspace in Edgemere that serves as a vital third space, community connector, and gathering place for neighbors and visitors alike. The Garden also functions as a resource hub for environmental, educational, and cultural programming.
The Garden prides itself as being more than a garden, offering intergenerational family-centered activities, health and wellness programming, and partnerships with local organizations, connecting residents with one another and the natural environment along Jamaica Bay. The Garden regularly hosts a variety of public programming, including birding, cooking demonstrations, holiday tree lightings, live music, kayaking, pollinator festivals, stargazing, and yoga events.
Jaclyn Soto is the Co-Founder and Executive Board Member of South Jamaica Infinity Garden, where she leads the garden’s marketing and communications efforts and plays an active role in developing and executing programming, partnerships, and community initiatives that bring neighbors together around gardening, wellness, education, sustainability, and the arts.
South Jamaica Infinity Garden transformed a vacant lot into a vibrant community green space in Southeast Queens. Alongside growing fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs, the garden hosts programs ranging from children’s literacy activities and wellness workshops to composting, arts programming, and gardening education, creating a place for neighbors to gather, learn, and build community.
Nicolás Efrén Linares Sánchez is a Colombian-born writer, educator, environmental activist, and co-founder of Mazorca Colectiva. His work brings together poetry, ancestral knowledge, community organizing, and environmental stewardship, and he is also a steward of the Lion’s Den Community Garden in Queens. He is former co-director of the ‘Poets in New York’ Collective, with whom he organized cultural events around the city. Nicolás is the co-founder of Mazorca Colectiva where he leads Peacemaking circles in Queens.
Mazorca Colectiva is an East Elmhurst-based community of immigrants, Indigenous peoples, and people from the Global South working to reclaim ancestral knowledge and practices. Through gardening, workshops, art, storytelling, and intergenerational gatherings, the collective creates spaces for mutual care, cultural connection, and more sustainable relationships with the land.
Directions and Parking
Queens Botanical Garden 43-50 Main Street, Flushing, NY 11355
Parking: On-site parking is available at the Garden’s Parking Garden entrance at 42-80 Crommelin Street. Current parking fees are $8 on weekdays and $10 on weekends and holiday Mondays; special event rates may apply.
Train: Take the 7 train to Flushing–Main Street, followed by a short walk to the Garden.
Bus: Take the Q44-SBS or Q20A/B to Flushing. The Garden is also accessible from nearby bus stops along Main Street.
| Date | Performance Times | |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 16, 2026 | 6:00 PM |
Date: Wednesday, September 16, 2026
Location: Queens Botanical Garden (Visitors & Administration Building, 43-50 Main St, Flushing, NY 11355)
Doors: 6:00 PM | Panel: 6:30 PM
Admission: FREE
Join us at Queens Botanical Garden for the next installment of Mapping Queens, a conversation series presented through the Queens Cultural Mapping Initiative highlighting the people and organizations shaping Queens’ cultural landscape.
Moderated by Natalie Bedon, Project Manager of the Queens Cultural Mapping Initiative, this conversation will feature community garden leaders from across the borough:
- Clarissa James — Garden of Resilience, Springfield Gardens
- Jackie Rogers — The Garden by the Bay, Rockaways
- Jaclyn Soto — South Jamaica Infinity Garden
- Nicolás Linares — Mazorca Colectiva
Together, these leaders are transforming green spaces into places where neighbors can gather, grow, learn, create, and build community.
Panelists will share what inspires their work, the challenges of sustaining community green spaces, and their visions for the future. The conversation will be followed by audience Q&A and a mixer.
Drinks and light refreshments will be available.
About Queens Botanical Garden
Queens Botanical Garden is a 39-acre urban oasis in Flushing that brings people, plants, and cultures together through gardens, environmental education, community programs, and cultural events. As a gathering place for one of the most diverse communities in the world, the Garden provides opportunities for visitors to connect with nature and one another while supporting environmental stewardship across Queens.
Clarisa James is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of DIVAS for Social Justice, where she has worked to create community-centered programs that use technology, arts, and environmental justice to empower young people and strengthen neighborhoods. Garden of Resilience is the only community garden serving Springfield Gardens, Rosedale, and Laurelton. The community garden was co-founded and established by youth of DIVAS for Social Justice, Clarisa James & Melva Miller.
Garden of Resilience, stewarded by DIVAS for Social Justice, transforms green space into a resource for community gathering, education, food growing, and neighborhood resilience. The garden has hosted outdoor learning and community programming while creating a shared green space for residents of Southeast Queens.
DIVAS for Social Justice is a community-based organization that uses STEAM education, the arts, and environmental justice to empower young people and strengthen neighborhoods. Through initiatives like the Garden of Resilience, DIVAS creates opportunities for learning, community connection, and local environmental action.
Jackie Rogers, President of both The Garden by the Bay and Edgemere Alliance, works to amplify and strengthen her community's quality of life. She advocates for community equity, environmental resilience, and equitable investments for the Edgemere community in Far Rockaway through work that brings together gardening, environmental advocacy, stewardship, public programming in blue and green spaces, and neighborhood organizing.
The Garden by the Bay is a 14,450-square-foot community garden and greenspace in Edgemere that serves as a vital third space, community connector, and gathering place for neighbors and visitors alike. The Garden also functions as a resource hub for environmental, educational, and cultural programming.
The Garden prides itself as being more than a garden, offering intergenerational family-centered activities, health and wellness programming, and partnerships with local organizations, connecting residents with one another and the natural environment along Jamaica Bay. The Garden regularly hosts a variety of public programming, including birding, cooking demonstrations, holiday tree lightings, live music, kayaking, pollinator festivals, stargazing, and yoga events.
Jaclyn Soto is the Co-Founder and Executive Board Member of South Jamaica Infinity Garden, where she leads the garden’s marketing and communications efforts and plays an active role in developing and executing programming, partnerships, and community initiatives that bring neighbors together around gardening, wellness, education, sustainability, and the arts.
South Jamaica Infinity Garden transformed a vacant lot into a vibrant community green space in Southeast Queens. Alongside growing fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs, the garden hosts programs ranging from children’s literacy activities and wellness workshops to composting, arts programming, and gardening education, creating a place for neighbors to gather, learn, and build community.
Nicolás Efrén Linares Sánchez is a Colombian-born writer, educator, environmental activist, and co-founder of Mazorca Colectiva. His work brings together poetry, ancestral knowledge, community organizing, and environmental stewardship, and he is also a steward of the Lion’s Den Community Garden in Queens. He is former co-director of the ‘Poets in New York’ Collective, with whom he organized cultural events around the city. Nicolás is the co-founder of Mazorca Colectiva where he leads Peacemaking circles in Queens.
Mazorca Colectiva is an East Elmhurst-based community of immigrants, Indigenous peoples, and people from the Global South working to reclaim ancestral knowledge and practices. Through gardening, workshops, art, storytelling, and intergenerational gatherings, the collective creates spaces for mutual care, cultural connection, and more sustainable relationships with the land.
Directions and Parking
Queens Botanical Garden 43-50 Main Street, Flushing, NY 11355
Parking: On-site parking is available at the Garden’s Parking Garden entrance at 42-80 Crommelin Street. Current parking fees are $8 on weekdays and $10 on weekends and holiday Mondays; special event rates may apply.
Train: Take the 7 train to Flushing–Main Street, followed by a short walk to the Garden.
Bus: Take the Q44-SBS or Q20A/B to Flushing. The Garden is also accessible from nearby bus stops along Main Street.
| Date | Performance Times | |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 16, 2026 | 6:00 PM |
