Check Out Our Featured Stories!
Real People. Real Conversations. Real Community.
Every neighborhood has people whose stories deserve to be seen, heard, celebrated, and shared.
Through Hey, Neighbor!!! Hey!, Neighbor2Neighbor DC by 3D CAC takes you beyond the introduction and into the people, places, businesses, organizations, artists, elders, young leaders, and community builders who give our neighborhoods their character and strength.
These Featured Stories are about more than what someone does. We want to know who they are, what inspires them, what they are building, what they have learned, how they are serving others, and why their work matters to the community around them.
Some stories will introduce you to neighborhood legends whose roots stretch across generations. Others will spotlight emerging leaders, artists, entrepreneurs, small businesses, nonprofits, faith communities, educators, mentors, public servants, and everyday neighbors doing extraordinary things right where they live and work.
And sometimes, the conversation takes us somewhere unexpected. We may start with an interview and end up painting a mural, walking a neighborhood, visiting a business, meeting another neighbor, discovering a resource, or identifying a new opportunity to bring people together.
That is the heart of Hey, Neighbor!!! Hey!
We are not simply documenting our communities. We are connecting them.
As you explore our Featured Stories, we invite you to meet the people behind the places you pass every day, discover organizations and businesses you may not know, learn from the neighbors helping shape Washington, DC, and find new ways to support the community around you.
Every Block Has a Story
Every story creates another connection.
Every connection can open another door.
And every neighbor has something they can contribute.
So take a look around. Meet somebody new. Support somebody local. Share a story that deserves a larger audience.
And when you see us in the neighborhood, you already know what to say:
Hey, Neighbor!!! Hey!
Our Neighborhood. Our History. Our Future.
One Conversation at a Time.
Neighbor2Neighbor DC by 3D CAC
Building Community Block by Block.
Our Community Is Our Responsibility.
HEY, NEIGHBOR!!! HEY!
Episode 1: A Conversation with Mrs. Virginia Ali — Love, Legacy and the Heart of U Street
Neighbor2Neighbor DC by 3D CAC
There could hardly be a more fitting place to begin Hey, Neighbor!!! Hey! than right here on U Street NW—with one of the women who has helped define what neighborhood, perseverance, hospitality and community mean in Washington, DC.
For our very first Neighbor2Neighbor DC conversation, I had the privilege of spending time with Mrs. Virginia Ali, co-founder and beloved matriarch of Ben’s Chili Bowl.
And this was more than an interview.
It was a conversation between neighbors.
It was history standing right in front of us.
It was laughter, affection, memory and the unmistakable feeling that U Street is not simply a corridor of buildings—it is a community built by people who stayed, served, struggled, created, invested and believed.
A Washington Story That Began in 1958
Virginia and her husband, Ben Ali, opened Ben’s Chili Bowl at 1213 U Street NW on August 22nd, 1958, using their savings to establish what was then a small neighborhood restaurant. Nearly seven decades later, that same location has become one of Washington’s most recognizable cultural institutions.
But reducing Ben’s story to chili and half-smokes misses something important.
Ben’s became a gathering place.
A place where neighbors met one another.
A place connected to artists, students, activists, civil-rights leaders, workers and families.
A place where Washingtonians could walk through the door and feel that they belonged.
That sense of belonging is part of what Mrs. Ali has carried forward generation after generation.
Her philosophy is beautifully uncomplicated: “treat people the way you want to be treated.”
That principle may sound simple.
Living it for nearly seven decades is extraordinary.
She Didn’t Just Witness U Street History. She Helped Hold It Together.
Mrs. Ali has watched U Street transform again and again.
The neighborhood around Ben’s was part of Washington’s celebrated Black Broadway, an extraordinary center of African American business, music, culture and intellectual life.
Then came some of the most difficult chapters in the city’s history.
Following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, Ben’s remained open during the unrest and served people working in and around the neighborhood. Years later, when Metro construction disrupted U Street businesses, Virginia Ali persisted through the prolonged construction and kept Ben’s going.
Businesses came and went.
The neighborhood changed.
Generations changed.
Washington changed.
Mrs. Virginia Ali stayed.
And sometimes that is what community leadership looks like.
Not simply arriving when attention is focused on a neighborhood—but remaining committed to it when circumstances become difficult.
Hey, Neighbor!!! Hey!
When I approached Mrs. Ali for our conversation, there was an immediate warmth that photographs alone cannot capture.
There we were on U Street: two Washington women talking, laughing and connecting amid the crowd and the history surrounding us.
That is exactly why I created Neighbor2Neighbor DC.
I want people to experience our neighborhoods through the people who make them matter.
Not simply:
“What business is located here?”
But:
Who built here?
Who stayed here?
Who remembers what happened on this block?
Who welcomed the next generation?
Who created opportunities?
Who kept believing in the neighborhood?
And perhaps most importantly:
What can their story teach us about how we care for our communities today?
Mrs. Ali’s story answers many of those questions without needing a long speech.
Sometimes you simply have to watch how someone treats people.
The Power of Being Known
One of the most important lessons from Ben’s is easy to overlook.
Community is built through repetition.
You come back.
You recognize somebody.
You ask how their family is doing.
You know the person behind the counter.
A child grows up and later brings their own children.
A visitor becomes a regular.
A restaurant becomes a gathering place.
A gathering place becomes an institution.
And an institution becomes part of the identity of a city.
Ben’s describes Mrs. Ali as someone who has greeted generations of customers, offered encouragement and helped create a place associated with unity, resilience and hope.
That is Neighbor2Neighbor in practice.
Supporting the Places That Hold Our Stories
This episode also carries another message that matters deeply to me:
Love your neighborhood with your presence.
Support the businesses that support your community.
Visit them.
Learn their stories.
Bring someone with you.
Introduce a young person to the places that existed before they did.
Ask elders what the block used to look like.
Spend locally when you can.
And understand that preserving community institutions requires more than celebrating them after they become famous.
It requires showing up.
The original U Street Ben’s is once again open and welcoming neighbors at 1213 U Street NW, continuing the story that began there in 1958.
Real People. Real Conversations. Real Community.
That is why Mrs. Virginia Ali was such a meaningful first conversation for Hey, Neighbor!!! Hey!
This series isn’t about collecting celebrity interviews.
It is about collecting community wisdom.
I want to talk with the grandmother who has lived on the block for fifty years.
The young artist just beginning to discover their voice.
The neighborhood barber.
The small-business owner.
The pastor.
The teacher.
The student.
The public servant.
The activist.
The newcomer who has decided to invest in the community.
And the icons like Mrs. Virginia Ali whose lives remind us that the neighborhoods we inherit did not happen accidentally.
Somebody built them.
Somebody protected them.
Somebody believed in them.
Somebody stayed.
And now it is our turn.
Thank You, Mrs. Virginia Ali
Mrs. Ali, thank you for welcoming me.
Thank you for the conversation.
Thank you for the laughter.
Thank you for your warmth.
Thank you for believing in U Street.
Thank you for helping preserve a place where generations of Washingtonians have gathered.
And thank you for reminding us that a neighborhood’s greatest asset isn’t a building, a development project or even a famous address.
It’s the people.
HEY, NEIGHBOR!!! HEY!
Our Neighborhood. Our History. Our Future.
One Conversation at a Time.
Neighbor2Neighbor DC by 3D CAC
Real People. Real Conversations. Real Community.
Building Community Block by Block.
Our Community Is Our Responsibility.
Who should Karen say “HEY!” to next?
Nominate a neighbor, local business, artist, elder, young leader, faith community, nonprofit or neighborhood treasure whose story deserves to be heard.
Because every block has a story—and somebody on that block is worth knowing.
Hey, Neighbor!!! Hey! Featured Neighbor
Brian Bailey: Art as Healing, Youth as Possibility, Community as Canvas
DC artist. Muralist. Mentor. Healer.
What happens when we stop looking at art as decoration and begin seeing it as a way to care for people?
That question came alive during my Hey, Neighbor!!! Hey! conversation with Washington, DC artist Brian Bailey.
I originally came to talk with Brian about his art, his work with young people, and the possibility of bringing more of his creative offerings to the U Street corridor.
But this did not stay an interview for very long.
I picked up a paintbrush.
Brian put me to work.
We painted. We talked. We laughed. We created. And somewhere along the way, I became part of the squad.
That experience captured exactly what Neighbor2Neighbor DC by 3D CAC is about: getting beyond introductions, getting into the life of the community, and discovering what becomes possible when neighbors create together.
Art Is More Than Something to Look At
For Brian Bailey, art is not simply something to hang on a wall.
It can be an outlet.
A conversation.
A place to breathe.
A way to process what is happening inside of you.
And sometimes, it can be a pathway toward healing.
Brian has described his own relationship with painting as an emotional release. That experience helped shape the way he approaches his work with young people, particularly young people navigating difficult circumstances, strong emotions, uncertainty, or environments where they may not always have enough opportunities to express themselves safely.
A canvas gives them somewhere to put it.
A brush gives them something to do with it.
A creative space gives them permission to slow down, think, feel, explore and discover what they have to say.
That is why Brian’s work reaches well beyond painting.
It is about helping young people recognize their own creativity, worth and possibility.
Kids Need Care, Not Curfew
One of Brian Bailey’s most recognizable messages says simply:
KIDS NEED CARE, NOT CURFEW.
It is provocative because it challenges us to look beyond behavior and ask a deeper question:
What do our young people actually need from us?
Maybe they need someone who will listen.
Maybe they need a mentor.
Maybe they need somewhere safe to go.
Maybe they need an opportunity to create something instead of being told only what they cannot do.
Maybe they need a paintbrush.
Maybe they need an adult who sees talent in them before they have learned how to see it in themselves.
Maybe they need a community willing to invest in who they can become.
The statement does not suggest that safety, accountability or boundaries do not matter. It asks us to consider whether our community response to young people also includes care, relationships, opportunities, creativity and belonging.
Brian’s work offers art as one part of that care.
That is an important conversation for Washington, DC.
Healing Through Art Across DC
Brian’s creative footprint has reached schools, galleries, murals, youth programs, festivals and community spaces throughout the District.
His work has included teaching and mentoring young people, supporting community mural projects, creating opportunities for emerging artists and developing spaces where creativity becomes a bridge between people.
Through the Brian Bailey Art Foundation, his vision has included increasing young people’s access to art resources, mentorship and educational opportunities.
In Anacostia, his work has been connected to an ecosystem of art, youth development and community building through the Capital Hill Boys Club Art Gallery, including creative programming, murals, artist development and opportunities for young people and neighborhood artists.
His philosophy is not simply to make art around a community.
It is to create with community.
That difference matters.
Let Young People Tell Their Own Stories
Brian’s commitment to young people also includes creating platforms where they are not simply invited into a program but are trusted to express what they see, think and experience.
In 2025, he curated The Adolescent Perspective at the Anacostia Arts Center in collaboration with students from Duke Ellington School of the Arts.
The exhibition centered young artists engaging subjects including identity, power, civic participation, censorship and the world around them through their own visual language.
That is another form of mentorship.
Sometimes supporting young people means teaching.
Sometimes it means providing resources.
And sometimes it means knowing when to move out of the way and give them the platform.
Enter Tristan Ellis
That intergenerational connection became even more meaningful during our time together because Tristan Ellis, a Howard University student artist, was creating alongside us.
Here we were:
An established DC artist.
A Howard University student artist.
A community leader who suddenly had a paintbrush in her hand.
Three generations of experience and perspective occupying the same creative space.
That moment said something important about the kind of community infrastructure we can build.
Young artists need access to established artists.
Established artists need opportunities to pass along what they know.
Institutions such as Howard University are filled with emerging talent that should be connected to the neighborhoods surrounding them.
And communities need places where all of those relationships can happen naturally.
Mentorship does not always have to begin inside a classroom.
Sometimes it begins beside a mural.
Then Karen Joined the Squad
I came prepared to interview Brian.
I did not necessarily arrive expecting to become one of the painters.
But that is exactly what happened.
Brian invited me into the work, and I painted my own portion of the Keys to Wealth Fest mural.
I worked on three keys:
the large key, the pink key and the DC key.
There was something wonderfully appropriate about that.
The interview was about connection, young people, creativity and what we might bring back to our neighborhoods.
And there I was literally painting keys.
We talked while we worked.
We joked.
Brian coached.
People moved around us.
Tristan painted.
Neighbors stopped by.
The mural continued taking shape.
There was no artificial divide between interviewer and interviewee anymore.
We were simply people creating something together.
From interviewer to painter to honorary squad member.
That is one of my favorite things about Hey, Neighbor!!! Hey!
Sometimes the best community conversations happen when you stop conducting an interview and start participating.
Why U Street?
Our conversation also turned toward something important to me: bringing more of Brian’s creative offerings into the U Street corridor.
U Street has an extraordinary cultural history.
Music.
Art.
Black entrepreneurship.
Faith.
Education.
Political organizing.
Nightlife.
Creativity.
Generations of Washingtonians have shaped that corridor.
But honoring that history cannot mean treating culture as something that existed only in the past.
Culture has to keep being created.
That means creating opportunities for today’s artists.
It means connecting established artists with younger creators.
It means giving residents reasons to engage positively with one another.
It means finding new ways for our young people to experience U Street as a place where they belong and where their talents have somewhere to grow.
Imagine mural projects.
Youth artist workshops.
Community painting days.
Intergenerational conversations.
Public art.
Mentorship.
Student artist showcases.
Creative activations that bring people outside and give neighbors something positive to build together.
The question Brian and I began exploring is one that I hope our community will continue:
What could this look like on U Street?
Not simply an event.
Not art dropped into a neighborhood.
Something rooted in relationship.
Something that connects artists, young people, businesses, residents, institutions and community organizations.
Something built with the corridor.
Creativity Is Community Safety Too
There is another reason this conversation belongs within the work of 3D CAC.
We often talk about public safety in terms of policing, enforcement, crime statistics, emergency response and government services.
Those things matter.
But community safety is also shaped long before an emergency call is made.
It is shaped by whether people know one another.
Whether a young person has somewhere constructive to spend time.
Whether they have adults they trust.
Whether someone recognizes their gifts.
Whether communities have positive spaces for gathering.
Whether people have healthy ways to express anger, grief, anxiety, frustration and hope.
Whether residents feel connected to the place where they live.
Art cannot solve every community challenge.
But creativity can be part of the ecosystem that helps build stronger people and stronger neighborhoods.
That is why Brian’s healing work deserves attention.
It connects art with something much larger:
belonging.
A Paintbrush Can Become an Invitation
One of the things that stayed with me after our conversation was how uncomplicated the invitation was.
Pick up the brush.
Come closer.
Try.
Add something.
That is community building in miniature.
You do not have to be the expert before you participate.
You do not have to have the perfect words before you join the conversation.
Sometimes somebody just needs to make room for you.
Brian made room.
And the mural changed because more hands touched it.
Communities work the same way.
The Question We Are Bringing Back to Our Neighbors
Brian Bailey’s episode leaves us with a question worth carrying far beyond one mural:
What if we treated creativity as part of how we care for our young people?
What would change if more young people had access to artists?
What if neighborhood institutions regularly opened doors to emerging creators?
What if businesses commissioned young artists?
What if community organizations incorporated creative expression into engagement?
What if we connected Howard University students with neighborhood artists, elders, businesses and young residents?
What if more young people had something meaningful that belonged to them?
A project.
A mentor.
A canvas.
A stage.
A camera.
A microphone.
A place at the table.
We spend a great deal of time asking how to keep young people away from harmful things.
Brian’s work invites another question:
What are we intentionally drawing them toward?
That deserves an answer from all of us.
Art. Healing. Youth. Mentorship. Community.
My afternoon with Brian Bailey reminded me why Hey, Neighbor!!! Hey! exists.
I got to know him..
But I also got paint on the brush.
A lesson.
A new relationship.
A conversation about U Street.
Time with a talented Howard University student artist.
And a firsthand look at what happens when creativity becomes connection.
That is Neighbor2Neighbor DC.
We are looking for the people who are already doing the work.
The artists.
The mentors.
The entrepreneurs.
The elders.
The young leaders.
The neighborhood institutions.
The people quietly creating possibilities for somebody else.
Then we ask:
What are you doing?
Why does it matter?
Who needs to know about it?
Who should be connected to you?
And most importantly:
What could we build together?
Hey, Neighbor!!! Hey!
Real People. Real Conversations. Real Community.
Neighbor2Neighbor DC by 3D CAC
Our Community Is Our Responsibility.
Connect With Brian Bailey
Learn more about Brian’s artwork, murals and creative work:
Instagram: @brianbaileyisart
Website: brianbaileyart.com
Email: info@brianbaileyart.com
Telephone: 301-467-3821
Keep Connecting
Follow Hey, Neighbor!!! Hey! as we travel block by block meeting the people, businesses, artists, organizations and neighborhood institutions that make Washington, DC stronger.
www.3DCAC.org/neighbor2neighbor-dc/
Our Neighborhood. Our History. Our Future. One Conversation at a Time.
