40% Single-Person Households in Cheongnyeon City Gwanak-gu Creating a 'Youth-Friendly Special Zone Where Youth Are Happy'

[Seoul District News] Gwanak Youth Center Construction Leads to Youth-Centered Demand-Based Shared Office Space Rental, Excellence Gwanak Youth Account, Support for Youth Small Business Owners' Lunchboxes to Build Youth Independence Foundation... Seocho-gu Recruiting Youth Committee Members for ‘Seocho Youth Network 5th Term’ to Discover Youth Policies and Propose Ideas until the 18th... Yeongdeungpo-gu Recruiting 30 Local Youth to Gain Public Administration Work Experience... Gangbuk-gu Recruiting Support Targets for ‘Lifelong Learning Community’

Young Adults Engaged in Community Activities in a Three-Room Apartment in Sillim-dong

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Jun-hee) is establishing and implementing a ‘Comprehensive Youth Policy Plan’ to fulfill its role as a youth city that matches the highest youth population ratio nationwide.

This ‘Comprehensive Youth Policy Plan’ is based on the vision ‘The future of youth is the future of Gwanak’ and aims to activate youth policies and support creative social activities to establish a foundation for youth independence and maximize their capabilities. The main project areas include ▲Participation & Rights ▲Jobs & Housing ▲Education ▲Culture & Welfare.

In the ‘Participation & Rights’ sector, the plan is to promote projects that increase participation rates in existing programs and complete the ‘Gwanak Youth Center,’ a comprehensive activity hub for youth.

‘Gwanak Youth Center’ (1759 Nambusunhwan-ro) is being constructed with a total project cost of 13 billion KRW, covering a total floor area of 1,528.86㎡ from basement level 1 to the 7th floor, aiming for completion this year. It will serve as a central hub for youth facing various social issues such as career interruption, employment difficulties, and housing, providing comprehensive youth policy functions including employment, jobs, culture, welfare, psychological counseling, and community support.

‘Sillim-dong Three Room,’ currently operated as a youth cultural activity space, will expand youth communities by supporting activities such as counseling and resource linkage projects tailored to diverse youth needs.

Additionally, to expand youth policy participation, a youth policy committee and the Gwanak Youth Network, representing public-private governance, will discover and propose youth-led agendas including policy directions, issues, and improvements.

In the ‘Jobs & Housing’ sector, the plan includes a region-led youth job project that connects local non-profit organizations with job-seeking youth and supports labor costs. Various employment support projects such as AI aptitude tests, interview experience centers, and youth employment concerts will be promoted. Support for supplying youth housing near subway stations will also be pursued to expand housing.

Customized education programs for youth capability development will be conducted, including operating the Youth Hope Academy, strengthening youth employment skills, nurturing IT youth talents for the 4th industrial revolution, and running youth workshops. The ‘Gwanak Youth Festival’ will be held in various formats, both face-to-face and non-face-to-face, due to COVID-19. The ‘Gwanak Youth Culture Zone Operation’ project will expand from 5 to 15 locations.

For welfare of low-income groups, asset formation support projects such as ‘Low-income Youth Asset Formation Support’ and ‘Euddeum Gwanak Youth Account Support’ will assist youth residing in Gwanak-gu in building assets and encourage work activities.

Furthermore, to compensate for the long-term sales decline of youth small business owners caused by COVID-19 and support socially vulnerable groups at risk of food insecurity, the ‘Gwanak Youth Small Business One Meal Sharing Regional Coexistence Project’ support program will be promoted.

A district official stated, “There is a need for a youth independence foundation and systematic youth support policies that can flexibly respond to the labor market changes and irregular non-wage employment forms caused by COVID-19. We will continue to expand communication and participation opportunities with youth and actively reflect their voices in district administration.”

Seocho-gu is publicly recruiting 50 members for the 5th term of the ‘Seocho Youth Network,’ where young people actively voice their opinions and discover creative youth policy ideas, until the 18th of this month.

The Seocho Youth Network is a youth policy discovery group where local youth gather to directly identify agendas and propose ideas on various youth policies such as employment, entrepreneurship, welfare, and housing. It started in 2017 and is now in its 5th term.

The recruitment target is 50 people, aged 19 to 39, who reside or are active in Seocho-gu. The activity period is 10 months, from March to December.

Selected Youth Network members will work in four subcommittees?▲Jobs ▲Culture & Arts ▲Living Infrastructure ▲Participation & Communication?to convey youth ideas by sector to the district administration.

Additionally, the district will support them with policy academy education, policy monitoring, and youth-related events to help youth develop awareness of issues and propose more practical policies.

The district plans to finalize the selection of members by the end of this month through document screening including activity experience and self-introduction, and hold an inauguration ceremony in March.

The district has reflected ideas proposed by the Youth Network in actual projects and policies. Representative examples include the ‘Youth E-commerce Expert Training Course’ and ‘S-Live Commerce Education’ conducted last year based on proposals from the Youth Network in 2020. These projects assist in planning diverse content by sector in the untact era and received great responses from local youth preparing for employment and entrepreneurship. The ‘Youth Book Club Program,’ which conducts reading discussions based on literary works proposed during the same period, is also actively operated.

Kim Do-a (32, resident of Yangjae-dong), who participated in the 4th term of the Seocho Youth Network last year, said, “While participating in the Youth Network, I felt rewarded to discuss various youth issues with peers and especially to see our proposed ideas reflected in Seocho-gu policies.”

Applications can be submitted by downloading the application form from the Seocho-gu Office website notice board and sending it via email to the person in charge.

Cheon Jeong-wook, Acting Mayor of Seocho-gu, said, “We will continue to support various activities such as the Seocho Youth Network to discover diverse youth policies that meet the perspectives of youth.”

Yeongdeungpo-gu (Mayor Chae Hyun-il) is recruiting local youth to participate in the ‘2022 Youth Dreamnarae Job Project,’ which provides practical work experience in public institutions and supports employment capability enhancement.

The Youth Dreamnarae Job Project aims to alleviate unemployment by directly providing jobs to unemployed youth, support their livelihood stability, and promote employment in the private sector through experience in public administration work.

The district has identified youth job demands from various departments and community service centers and selected 24 detailed projects for this job program.

The target projects include ▲Village Library Operation Support (7 people) ▲Multi-use Facility Operation Support (5 people) ▲Community Service Center Administrative & Welfare Assistants (10 people) ▲Household Waste Disposal Guidance (1 person) ▲Household Eco-friendly Boiler Application Support (2 people) ▲Environmental Education Activation Project (1 person) ▲Governance Support Officer Operation for Public-Private Cooperation (1 person) ▲Comprehensive Survey of Roadside Facilities (2 people) ▲Youth Industrial Design Promotion Support (1 person), recruiting a total of 30 people. Main duties include facility management and program operation support, document preparation assistance, and customer service.

Eligibility requires applicants to be residents of Yeongdeungpo-gu aged 18 to 39 with work capability as of the project start date. Priority is given to those meeting project-specific qualifications and preferences, with household income below 70% of the median income and assets under 400 million KRW.

Participation in other direct job projects is not allowed simultaneously. Applicants who have participated in full-time government-supported job projects after the application start date or who have dropped out midway are excluded from selection.

Selected participants will work for 9 months from March 7 to November 30 in each department’s project. Working hours are 8 hours per day, 5 days a week, with a wage of 10,766 KRW per hour plus weekly holiday allowance, and enrollment in the four major social insurances.

The selection announcement will be posted on the district website on March 3, and selected candidates will be individually notified by the project departments.

Youth wishing to participate must apply in person at the community service center in their jurisdiction by the 14th. Detailed information on required documents, project details, qualifications, and preferences can be found in the notices and announcements section of the Yeongdeungpo-gu Office website or by contacting the Yeongdeungpo-gu Job Economy Division.

Chae Hyun-il, Mayor of Yeongdeungpo-gu, said, “We hope this Youth Dreamnarae Job Project will help alleviate youth unemployment and provide hope to youth whose employment opportunities have become even narrower due to COVID-19. We will strive to create various job creation projects that support the dreams and lives of youth.”

Gangbuk-gu (Mayor Park Gyeom-su) announced that it is recruiting ‘Lifelong Learning Communities’ to support voluntary lifelong learning among residents.

The recruitment target is learning clubs with five or more members who meet and engage in learning and activities at least twice a month. For learning clubs including persons with disabilities, three or more members are sufficient. However, groups operating for profit, groups with less than 40% Gangbuk-gu residents among members, groups receiving subsidies from other institutions for the same content or members, and lecture-type groups where instructors receive a fixed fee are excluded.

Learning topics are divided into free-topic and public-topic types. Selected communities will receive essential expense subsidies after reviewing their learning content. Subsidies will be allocated considering the number of applying communities, members per community, and social ripple effects. Subsidies can be used for textbook costs, material costs, printing costs, etc.

Interested groups must apply by the 25th by submitting required documents via email. Required documents and detailed information can be found in the notices section of the Gangbuk-gu Neulbaeumteo website. For more details, contact the Gangbuk-gu Education Support Division.

Park Gyeom-su, Mayor of Gangbuk-gu, said, “Through the ‘Lifelong Learning Community,’ a representative project of Gangbuk Learning Center, we hope residents communicate and learn from each other. We will continue to expand lifelong learning policies and hope this will spread a lifelong learning culture among residents.”

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