Kansas City, Mo. ? Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has been grilled repeatedly on Capitol Hill about the troubles roiling the nation’s economy.

He’s giving the American people a shot too, appearing Sunday at a town hall-style forum that marks a rare opportunity for regular citizens to question the Fed chief.

Forty local residents will gather at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City to join PBS host Jim Lehrer in questioning Bernanke. Lehrer also will pose queries submitted to PBS through the Internet.

The one-hour event is being sponsored by and will be aired on PBS’s “Newshour with Jim Lehrer,” and the audience will be selected by Kansas City PBS affiliate KCPT-TV and other community groups.

“The Newshour and Chairman Bernanke were interested in getting together a conversation with as many people as possible so there are going to be people involved in the financial world and who understand the complicated financial processes and terms,” said Kevin Worley, vice president of public information for KCPT. “At the same time, we wanted people who didn’t have that knowledge but who had firsthand experience of how the economy is affecting their everyday lives.”

The meeting will be broadcast in 20-minute installments on “Newshour” on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday with a full broadcast of the forum later on local PBS stations and online.

Bernanke’s visit comes as the Federal Reserve tries to get the U.S. economy and financial markets back on firm footing.

The recession, the longest since World War II, has pushed unemployment to a 26-year high, sent home foreclosures soaring and has taken a big bite out of American households’ net worth.

The chairman, who took over the Fed in February 2006, has largely defended the agency’s performance while appearing before Congress, but has acknowledged that it has made mistakes in the past.

Critics have blamed the Fed under Bernanke’s predecessor, Alan Greenspan, for not cracking down on high-risk mortgages, the failures of which contributed heavily to the economic downturn.

Bernanke himself is also at a critical time. His term ends early next year and President Barack Obama must decide whether to reappoint him.