SUCCESSFUL ADAPTATION OF IMMIGRANTS FROM THE FORMER SOVIET-UNION TO PROJECT RENEWAL NEIGHBORHOODS - THE INFLUENTIAL FACTORS

Migration has been an international phenomenon fbr centuries. The wide spread trend toward migration in recent years has resulted in efforts to examine the factors involved in the adaptation of immigrants to lif e in the host country. This study examines the factors that effect imm igrant adaptation and integration in urban neighborhoods in Israel tha t are undergoing a process of rehabilitation. Adaptation is defined by the variables: contact with neighbors, participation in community act ivities, sense of belonging to the community and well-being. These med iator and dependent variables were found to be directly effected by ho me and host related variables. These variables were not found to direc tly effect well-being. Proximity of family and ability to converse in Hebrew were found to have an indirect effect on well-being, constructe d using community variables, which themselves directly effect well-bei ng. The discussion of the findings refers both to Project Renewal for the Rehabilitation of Neighborhoods, and the role of professional comm unity workers as planners and movers in the neighborhoods incorpororat ed in the project.