Opening of Gwanak-gu 'Family Culture Welfare Center'

New Construction at 8-4, Nambusunhwan-ro 149-gil with a Total Floor Area of 3,999.8㎡, 2 Basement Floors, 6 Above Ground Floors... Expansion of 20 Public Childcare Centers and 6 I-rang Centers, Efforts to Create a Family-Friendly Workplace Culture

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Jun-hee) is accelerating family-friendly policies to create a city where the whole family can be healthy and happy.

The district is smoothly progressing with the construction project of the ‘Family Culture Welfare Center,’ which all family members including children, adolescents, women, and men can enjoy.

The Family Culture Welfare Center will be newly built at 8-4, Nambusunhwan-ro 149-gil, Gwanak-gu, with a total floor area of 3,999.8㎡, consisting of 2 basement floors and 6 above-ground floors. The district started construction in June last year with a budget of 23.66 billion KRW and plans to open it in the first half of 2021.

It will be equipped with an indoor play experience center where children can run and play freely, a dedicated library and toy library for infants and toddlers to foster creativity and thinking skills.

The Gwanak-gu Childcare Comprehensive Support Center, which provides various childcare support services, a women’s classroom for career-interrupted women, and a performance hall for various performances and cultural events will also be established.

In particular, keeping pace with the recent demand for personal media production, a one-person media room, studio room, and a village media center equipped with the latest equipment will be arranged.

A district official explained, “The Gwanak-gu Family Culture Welfare Center will become a comprehensive welfare and cultural space loved by all residents including children, fathers and mothers, women, and men.”

Additionally, the Family Culture Welfare Center will include the Gwanak-type Mother Center ‘I-rang,’ a complex cultural rest space for childcare parents and children, which is one of Mayor Park’s campaign pledges.

I-rang consists of a public playroom for infants and toddlers and a self-help meeting space for childcare parents, and offers various specialized programs for childcare parents and children.

The district plans to expand care spaces that parents and children can use comfortably by opening the first I-rang Nanhyang branch last year, followed by the Nakseongdae and Boramae branches this year, aiming to expand to six locations by 2022.

During the 7th local government term, Gwanak-gu is also striving to create a trusted childcare environment by expanding national and public daycare centers. The number of national and public daycare centers increased from 71 in the first half of 2018 to 82 so far, and the goal is to expand to a total of 20 centers by 2022, raising the utilization rate of national and public daycare centers from 39% to 50%.

Along with this, the district is making efforts to create a family-friendly workplace culture that balances work and family life. It operates ‘Sufia,’ a breastfeeding room and women’s rest area, and provides convenience items such as footrests and backrests, as well as congratulatory gifts for pregnant and expectant employees.

Especially, the newly launched ‘Employee Children Invitation Program’ and the ‘Rest & Healing Program’ offering rest opportunities to tired employees have received positive responses, and the district was re-certified as a family-friendly organization by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family last year.

Mayor Park Jun-hee said, “We are making efforts to expand various infrastructures and discover policies that can make the family, the most basic unit of society, happy,” adding, “We will continue to promote various family-friendly policies to create a healthy and happy Gwanak-gu for the whole family.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.