Gwangjin-gu Provides Free Household Care Service for Pregnant Women

[Seoul District News] Gwangjin-gu Provides Various Household Care Services Including 4 Hours Daily Cleaning, Laundry, Meal Service, and Hospital Accompaniment for 600 Pregnant Women... Yongsan-gu Accepts Applications for Tenant Small Business Support Fund (1 Million KRW per Business)... Yangcheon-gu Strengthens Meal Management Support for Childcare Centers Without Nutritionists... Eunpyeong-gu Trains Career-Interrupted Women as Space Organization and Storage Experts... Dobong-gu Supports Local Small Businesses and Small Merchants with Hope Incentives to Promote Employment of Dobong Residents

Pregnant woman using Gwangjin Mom Taxi

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Gwangjin-gu (Mayor Kim Seon-gap) is providing free household care services to pregnant women’s households to reduce the burden of housework on pregnant women and support work-family balance.

The district started the ‘Pregnant Women Household Care Support Project’ last year, receiving great responses from users, with a satisfaction rate of 93.28% among 382 service recipients.

Building on this success, this year the district plans to support 600 pregnant women residing in the area, regardless of income, with free household services for 4 hours a day, 4 times in total, to help healthy pregnancy and childbirth in the era of low birth rates.

Pregnant women who apply for the service can receive customized household care services including basic housework such as cleaning and laundry, meal provision for pregnant women, accompaniment to the hospital in emergencies, and disinfection and cleanliness management related to COVID-19.

In particular, the dispatched professional housekeepers strictly comply with quarantine rules such as wearing masks, temperature checks, and hand sanitization in response to the COVID-19 situation, prioritizing the safety of pregnant women while providing the service.

Applications can be made by visiting the local community service center with an ID and pregnancy confirmation or maternity handbook, or via email.

Applications must be submitted at least 10 days before the desired service date, and services are provided on a first-come, first-served basis within the budget, so the project may end early if the budget is exhausted. For other inquiries, contact the local community service center or the district office’s Family Welfare Division.

Kim Seon-gap, Mayor of Gwangjin-gu, said, “Since this is a highly satisfactory project, I hope those in need will apply to receive high-quality household care services. There is a saying that it takes a whole village to raise a child. We will continue to create a child-friendly environment through various policies and support from pregnancy to childbirth and parenting.”

Yongsan-gu (Mayor Seong Jang-hyun) is accepting applications for the ‘Seoul Tenant Small Business Keeper Volunteer’ for 4 weeks until March 6. This is to support tenant small business owners struggling due to business restrictions under social distancing measures for COVID-19 prevention.

The district estimates a total of 16,350 tenant small business establishments as eligible. Each establishment will receive 1 million KRW. The support fund will be transferred to the applicant’s account within 10 working days from the application date.

Eligible applicants are small business owners whose main business location is in Yongsan-gu according to their business registration certificate, with annual sales under 200 million KRW in 2020 and 2021, fewer than 5 employees (fewer than 10 for manufacturing, mining, construction, and transportation industries), and who opened before December 31, 2021.

Entertainment establishments and unhealthy industries such as gambling, leisure, and speculation are excluded from loan support. Also, those who received public property rent reductions for tenant small businesses in 2022, special employment types/freelancer support funds, or tourism industry crisis recovery funds cannot receive duplicate benefits.

Applications are primarily accepted online via the Seoul Keeper Fund website. From March 7 to 11, applications will be accepted in a 5-day rotation based on the last two digits of the business registration number, and from March 12, applications can be submitted freely regardless of the registration number.

A district official said, “Although on-site application counters will be operated, considering the COVID-19 situation, we ask that applications be submitted online as much as possible.”

Small business owners unable to apply online can visit the 5th floor of the Yongsan-gu Comprehensive Administrative Town from February 28 to March 4 to apply in person.

Seong Jang-hyun, Mayor of Yongsan-gu, said, “Due to the spread of Omicron, small business owners are facing worsening business difficulties. The district is leading efforts to revitalize commercial areas, including issuing 50 billion KRW worth of Yongsan Love Gift Certificates this year, so I hope self-employed business owners stay strong.”

Yangcheon-gu (Mayor Kim Soo-young) announced that it will expand the service coverage of the Children’s Meal Management Support Center to ensure all children in the area receive quality meals.

Following the revision and enforcement of the ‘Special Act on Safety Management of Children’s Dietary Life’ on December 30 last year, small-scale children’s meal facilities without mandatory nutritionist placement are now required to register with the Meal Management Support Center.

Accordingly, Yangcheon-gu expanded the meal management support target from daycare centers with 50 to fewer than 100 children to include small-scale daycare centers with fewer than 50 children, including ‘Together Care Centers.’ As a result, the number of child facilities registered with the Yangcheon-gu Children’s Meal Management Center increased significantly from 140 last year to 291.

Since 2018, the district has operated the Yangcheon-gu Children’s Meal Management Support Center through private consignment to ensure the safety of children’s meals.

Starting with a budget of 300 million KRW at the beginning of the project, the center now operates with a budget of 700 million KRW, supporting various programs such as ▲nutrition and hygiene patrol guidance and consulting ▲development of child-customized menus and recipes ▲production of hygiene management educational materials and information provision for children’s meal facilities in the area.

The district plans to systematically support meal management for various child facilities such as small daycare centers and private kindergartens to eliminate blind spots in hygiene and nutrition management and further enhance the quality of meals.

Kim Soo-young, Mayor of Yangcheon-gu, said, “We are expanding the meal support management target to small daycare centers so that parents can trust and feel assured about the meals provided. Since nutritious food is essential for the healthy growth of our children, we will create the best meal environment with a mother’s heart.”

Eunpyeong-gu (Mayor Kim Mi-kyung) is promoting an educational project called ‘Our Neighborhood Space Organizing Trainer’ to train career-interrupted women as professional organizers and living quarantine experts to help them re-enter the labor market.

‘Our Neighborhood Space Organizing Trainer’ is an educational course promoted as a city-district upward and cooperative job creation project to improve residential environments in response to increased demand for space organizing and storage services due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

Applications for the course can be submitted by visiting the Eunpyeong Women’s Human Resources Development Center in person or via email for non-face-to-face applications until the 15th of this month. The application form can be downloaded from the Eunpyeong Women’s Human Resources Development Center website.

The education period is from February 21 to March 4, held on weekdays from 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM. The course is fully funded by city and district budgets and free of charge. This year, a total of 24 organizing consultants will be trained. Participants who complete 40 hours of training (4 hours per day) will receive employment readiness education and job training related to organizing and storage, obtain a professional organizer certificate, and participate in field training.

In March, the district plans to select 12 graduates from the training to directly participate in the ‘Our Neighborhood Space Organizing Trainer’ project, providing opportunities to gain work experience. It is expected to enhance job creation effects through support for employment linkage with private companies.

For more details about the course, refer to the announcements on the Eunpyeong-gu website or the Education-National Funded Training board on the Eunpyeong Women’s Human Resources Development Center website.

An Eunpyeong-gu official said, “This ‘Our Neighborhood Space Organizing Trainer’ project provides organizing and storage services to vulnerable groups, dual-income families, and families with multiple children, while offering new jobs to career-interrupted women. We will take the lead in encouraging social advancement of career-interrupted women by conducting quality vocational training education in collaboration with the Eunpyeong Women’s Human Resources Development Center.”

Dobong-gu (Mayor Lee Dong-jin) is supporting the ‘Dobong-type Hope Incentive’ to ease the employment burden of small businesses and small merchants in the area suffering from the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and to promote employment of local residents.

Eligibility for application is small businesses and small merchants located in Dobong-gu with 2 or more employees enrolled in employment insurance who have newly hired Dobong-gu residents as regular employees (with wages above minimum wage and mandatory enrollment in the four major social insurances) since January 1, 2022. The application deadline is May 31, 2022, but the program may close early if the budget is exhausted.

Selected small businesses and small merchants will receive a local resident employment incentive of 500,000 KRW per month per employee (up to 2 employees per company) for up to 3 months if they maintain employment for 3 months through an agreement with the district.

Applicants wishing to apply should prepare the required documents and submit them via email to the person in charge. Details on eligibility, exclusions, and application forms can be found on the Dobong-gu website.

Lee Dong-jin, Mayor of Dobong-gu, said, “I hope this support will reduce the management burden for business owners and provide a good opportunity for local residents to find jobs.”

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