Ty Hobson-Powell is all about making sure Washington serves its residents. That’s why, despite an impressive résumé that includes graduating from high school at age 13 and securing a master’s degree by 17, he hasn’t moved his focus far from D.C. In the midst of massive protests for racial justice, he created the nonprofit Concerned Citizens of DC in 2020 to help organize and support locals who want the best for their city.

Currently the assistant director for Global Kids D.C., Hobson-Powell points to the old site of the Walter Reed medical campus on Georgia Avenue as a place of great significance. His mother was active-duty military, and he remembers getting his physicals at the campus — now home to a luxury apartment building and a Whole Foods. Even with the fancy apartments popping up and new neighbors moving in, Georgia Avenue lives on as a cultural hub.

“Uptown, everything that you do is going to be on Georgia Avenue,” Hobson-Powell says. “It’s kind of the main thing, the main event.”

Black-owned business to know: The Alumni Spot, a pop-up bar opened by Justin “Yaddiya” Johnson, the founder of Long Live Go-Go. The bar, which features a Black chef and live music from D.C. artists, feels to Hobson-Powell like “an homage to go-go culture in Washington, D.C.”