This story was supported with funds from SpotlightDC with reporting by participants in Hola Cultura’s Storytelling Program for Experiential Learning and edited by Christine MacDonald, Hola Cultura’s executive director and editor.

During the summer months, David Sayles’ backyard in D.C.’s verdant Wesley Heights neighborhood used to be his sanctuary. Partially domed by a lush stand of trees behind his house, he spent a lot of time back there. This year, however, while D.C. endured one of the hottest and muggiest summers in nearly a century, a construction site rose where those trees had been, taking with it the shade that would have cooled his and his neighbors’ properties during months of stifling heat.

“Other neighbors have talked about how they missed that,” Sayles says, referring to th

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