Dorot Center – Sderot’s Community Center for Kavkazi immigrants

35% of Sderot’s population – 7,000 individuals - are immigrants from Kafkaz, the Caucus mountain region of the Former Soviet Union.  In their homeland, the Jews of Kafkaz were considered a significant factor in the country’s development and were valued in their communities.  Their image in Israel is far less successful and many of them have failed to integrate fully into Israel’s modern society.  Still in the turmoil of immigration crisis, as a community they suffer high rates of unemployment and poverty.

Gvanim’s programs for Kafkaz immigrants were founded on the initiatives and hard work of students from Sderot’s Kafkaz community.  One such initiative is the Dorot Community Center.  Dorot Center provides the Kafkaz community with support and helps with negotiation with institutions such as the municipality, the social services offices, the National Insurance Institute and schools.  Dorot Center is open every day and provides support to about 2,000 immigrants every year.  In the afternoons it offers enrichment programs, for example “Safe Passage,” which provides academic and linguistic tutoring to children.  Some of the other programs offered are “Lazginka,” a national pride program teaching Kafkaz dances, the Young Leadership Group and preparation courses for National Service.  A new group for empowerment of women is planned for 2008.

The Dorot Center engages many volunteers from within the Kafkaz population and helps the Kafkaz community strengthen their cultural identity while increasing their community pride and their ties to Israel. The Center serves as an important example of how powerful communities can be when their leadership and human resources come from within their own population.

Dorot Center is situated in a very old building in Sderot.  In 2007 some renovations were completed but there is still more to be done, particularly to provide protection from Kasam rocket attacks.

News: 04.11.2009- Ritme Kavkaz

Gvanim thanks its Program Partners:  Sapir College, Municipality of Sderot, private and public foundations