Rty and racial/ethnic concentration are negatively related to health and well-being (Lillie-Blanton Laveist, 1996; Robert, 1999). LCZ696 site residents of Fruquintinib supplier Bayview are, by definition, poor; to qualify for the subsidized housing at Bayview, residents must demonstrate that they would otherwise be putting more than 30 of their income toward housing costs. The families who live at Bayview overwhelmingly belong to racial and ethnic minority groups; out of the 102 apartments at Bayview, 99 are occupied by non-white families. I conducted 27 semi-structured interviews and 3 focus groups (comprised of 9 returning interviewees and 1 new participant) with the neighborhood residents at Bayview between July 2011 and May 2012, aiming to speak with residents of various ethnic backgrounds and ages. Participants were initially recruited through flyers posted in the Bayview Community Center (in English, Spanish, and Hmong) and directly through a Hmong cultural liaison living in the neighborhood. I also used snowball sampling techniques, asking each participant to suggest other residents I could speak with who had knowledge about the neighborhood. I succeeded in getting representation from most groups in the neighborhood, interviewing 13 Hmong Americans, 6 Mexican Americans, 2 African immigrants, 3 African Americans, 2 whites, and 1 Vietnamese American. I conducted interviews in English and Spanish and a research assistant conducted the interviews in Hmong while I was present. The gender ratio of the participants was not balanced, with a total of 21 female and 6 male respondents. The sample is varied in terms of age, however, with the youngest participants being 20 years old, the oldest 79 years old, and the average 53. Participants lived at Bayview for between 1 and 40 years, with half of them living there for at least 20 years. I make no specific claims about the comparability of the sample to the larger population. My intent is not to generalize, but rather to generate an in-depth analysis in which I can base my hypotheses about vital places in the neighborhood. Interviews and Focus Groups–Interview questions focused on daily routines and the ways that residents interact with places in the neighborhood. For example, residents described a typical weekday and weekend day, and I asked them specifically about where they go, what they do, and with whom they interact. I also asked them to identify and describe places in the neighborhood that were important. See Appendix A for the full interview template. Interviews and focus groups took place in a private room at the Bayview community center or in residents’ homes. I asked all interviewees to take a walk around theSoc Sci Med. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2015 April 07.WaltonPageneighborhood, while we discussed their feelings about places they identified as important. The “walk-along” interview (Carpiano, 2009) is particularly valuable for understanding people’s interpretations of places while they are interacting with the social and physical environment, as it encourages context-sensitive reactions and enhances recall of memories. The three focus groups all took place after completion of the interviews. Focus groups were organized by language in English, Spanish, and Hmong, so that respondents could participate comfortably. My intent was to validate the themes that had emerged from the study. I asked participants to respond to photos of the neighborhood, prompting them to discuss what they saw and what the ph.Rty and racial/ethnic concentration are negatively related to health and well-being (Lillie-Blanton Laveist, 1996; Robert, 1999). Residents of Bayview are, by definition, poor; to qualify for the subsidized housing at Bayview, residents must demonstrate that they would otherwise be putting more than 30 of their income toward housing costs. The families who live at Bayview overwhelmingly belong to racial and ethnic minority groups; out of the 102 apartments at Bayview, 99 are occupied by non-white families. I conducted 27 semi-structured interviews and 3 focus groups (comprised of 9 returning interviewees and 1 new participant) with the neighborhood residents at Bayview between July 2011 and May 2012, aiming to speak with residents of various ethnic backgrounds and ages. Participants were initially recruited through flyers posted in the Bayview Community Center (in English, Spanish, and Hmong) and directly through a Hmong cultural liaison living in the neighborhood. I also used snowball sampling techniques, asking each participant to suggest other residents I could speak with who had knowledge about the neighborhood. I succeeded in getting representation from most groups in the neighborhood, interviewing 13 Hmong Americans, 6 Mexican Americans, 2 African immigrants, 3 African Americans, 2 whites, and 1 Vietnamese American. I conducted interviews in English and Spanish and a research assistant conducted the interviews in Hmong while I was present. The gender ratio of the participants was not balanced, with a total of 21 female and 6 male respondents. The sample is varied in terms of age, however, with the youngest participants being 20 years old, the oldest 79 years old, and the average 53. Participants lived at Bayview for between 1 and 40 years, with half of them living there for at least 20 years. I make no specific claims about the comparability of the sample to the larger population. My intent is not to generalize, but rather to generate an in-depth analysis in which I can base my hypotheses about vital places in the neighborhood. Interviews and Focus Groups–Interview questions focused on daily routines and the ways that residents interact with places in the neighborhood. For example, residents described a typical weekday and weekend day, and I asked them specifically about where they go, what they do, and with whom they interact. I also asked them to identify and describe places in the neighborhood that were important. See Appendix A for the full interview template. Interviews and focus groups took place in a private room at the Bayview community center or in residents’ homes. I asked all interviewees to take a walk around theSoc Sci Med. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2015 April 07.WaltonPageneighborhood, while we discussed their feelings about places they identified as important. The “walk-along” interview (Carpiano, 2009) is particularly valuable for understanding people’s interpretations of places while they are interacting with the social and physical environment, as it encourages context-sensitive reactions and enhances recall of memories. The three focus groups all took place after completion of the interviews. Focus groups were organized by language in English, Spanish, and Hmong, so that respondents could participate comfortably. My intent was to validate the themes that had emerged from the study. I asked participants to respond to photos of the neighborhood, prompting them to discuss what they saw and what the ph.