In 1988, local DC artist G. Byron Peck led a project funded by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and Mayor Marion Barry's Summer Youth Employment Program that installed a mural on the walls of both sides of the 6th Street Southeast Freeway underpass. After more than three decades, the artwork is in desperate need of restoration due to faded and peeling paint, water stains, vines and graffiti.

ANC 6B Chairman Brian Ready tried for several years to have this mural restored by the city without success and has decided to take on this project himself. Facing a monumental task, Brian reached out to Guerrilla Gardeners of Washington DC, a group known to perform people-powered beautification. Our response was an immediate and enthusiastic (socially-distanced) embrace and pledge of assistance. With Brian in the lead, GGDC will provide support in the form of funding (thus, this grant request), organization, volunteer recruitment and acquisition of materials and supplies.

We share Brian's belief that this artwork should be restored and not painted over as some have suggested. DC's young people - now adults - created this mural in 1988 and their contribution should be respected and not erased. We intend to rally the community behind Brian to pay homage to this mural of another era that Capitol Hill residents cherish.