Songpa-gu 'Uri Dongnae Dolbomdan' Officially Deployed

Songpa-gu Our Neighborhood Care Group Activities Begin: Realizing Field-Centered, Close-Knit Welfare... Full Effort to Identify Welfare Blind Spots through Resident-Led Integrated Welfare Community Operation

Park Seong-su, Mayor of Songpa District

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Songpa-gu (Mayor Park Seong-su) announced that it has formed the 'Songpa-gu Our Neighborhood Care Group,' where residents directly care for and manage vulnerable groups and residents in welfare blind spots within the area, and will begin full-scale activities.

To actively discover and support households in need within the region, the district selected 35 residents aged 40 to 67 who have an interest in the community and engage in continuous volunteer activities to form the 'Our Neighborhood Care Group.'

First, seven neighborhoods with a high distribution of at-risk households (Macheon 1-dong, Macheon 2-dong, Ogeum-dong, Bangi 2-dong, Geoye 2-dong, Samjeon-dong, Songpa 1-dong) were selected as pilot areas for the 'Our Neighborhood Care Group' and operations have begun.

The 'Our Neighborhood Care Group' consists of residents familiar with local conditions who regularly patrol the neighborhood three times a week, directly visiting vulnerable groups in the area to check on their well-being and provide management.

In addition to discovering families in crisis, they will promptly inform welfare planners at the community centers to connect these families with public and private resources, effectively serving as neighborhood guardians.

Also, starting this month, the district will avoid formal operation of overlapping welfare communities and clarify their functions and roles by consolidating the number of welfare communities from five to two.

The 'Honorary Social Welfare Officers (Sharing Stores, Citizen Finder, Honorary Social Welfare Officers)' will focus on discovering neighbors in need, while the 'Neighbor Watchers (Sharing Neighbors, Neighbor Watchers)' will focus on supporting and monitoring vulnerable neighbors.

Through sharing activity information and cooperation between the 'Our Neighborhood Care Group' and welfare communities, the district plans to further strengthen the discovery of welfare blind spots through resident participation and field-centered welfare.

Park Seong-su, Mayor of Songpa-gu, stated, “Due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, the economic situation of households has worsened, increasing the number of vulnerable groups and families in care blind spots within the community. Going forward, welfare communities composed of residents will closely watch over neighbors in need and provide integrated welfare services swiftly to families in crisis, actively working to strengthen the local safety net in Songpa-gu more thoroughly.”

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