The study found that living in an impoverished neighborhood with high concentrations of African-Americans increased the likelihood of being a homicide victim, increased access to malt liquor and other alcoholic beverages, and increased exposure to messages that promote malt liquor consumption. Higher concentrations of African-Americans in neighborhoods under the 1993 Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community Initiative (EZ/EC) were associated with higher homicide rates as well as greater alcohol availability, especially malt liquor availability. The promotion of malt liquor on the outside of storefronts was also significantly greater in African-American neighborhoods than in other neighborhoods. None of the measures representing alcohol or malt liquor availability and promotion, however, changed the effect of neighborhood racial/ethnic concentration on homicide. This does not exclude the possibility that alcohol availability and promotion measures had an indirect effect on homicides. The findings may also reflect the characteristics of EZ/EC neighborhoods, which are relatively homogeneous in terms of poverty and economic distress. Other studies that have examined the effects of alcohol availability on homicide have typically included citywide or countywide data at the census-tract level. The findings of such studies differed from the current study in showing a link between alcohol availability and promotion and homicide rates. Data came from a 3-year ecological study that examined the relationships between neighborhood racial/ethnic concentration, alcohol and malt liquor availability and promotion, and homicide. Inner city neighborhoods studied in California, Minnesota, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Kansas, and Missouri were all designated EZ/EC zones. 3 tables and 51 references