Ivy City and Brentwood neighborhoods in Washington, DC have auto body shops, factories and major roadways surrounding the area contributing to volatile organic compound (VOCs) air pollution. Families living in these areas are at risk of breathing in toxic VOCs. Toluene, xylene, and benzene are VOCs that come from vehicle gas emissions and can cause adverse health effects including cancer. Our goal was to identify and quantify the presence of VOCs in air collected from these two neighborhoods to generate quantitative data that the community can use to advocate for improvements in air quality. We collected outside VOCs onto sorbent tubes for 24 hours at residential homes. Then the sorbent material (Tenax) was transferred into glass vials for analysis by headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS). Our results show that xylene and toluene are two major VOCs present in these areas. Comparison against standards prepared from a VOC mix yielded concentrations of toluene (0.08-0.85 ppb) and xylene (0.05-0.76 ppb) that we found were similar to those that the Environmental Protection Agency found in their Ivy City study. By collecting more data at different areas around Ivy City and Brentwood we will aim to monitor these compounds, raise awareness and inform the community of these volatile compounds.