Gwanak-gu is Currently Running a Project Targeting the MZ Generation!

[Seoul Autonomous District News] Programs for New Employees Including Empathy Talks and Mentoring with District Heads, ‘Escaping Kkondae, Becoming a Generation-Connecting Leader’ Creating a Healthy Workplace Culture with Seniors and MZ Generation... Support of 5.7 Billion KRW for Essential Education Expenses of ‘One Instrument, One Exercise, Survival Swimming’ for Mapo-gu Students... Songpa-gu Supports Youth Cultural Activities (Project Expenses, Program Fees, Club Activity Fees for Child and Youth Facilities)... Geumcheon-gu Recruiting Participants for the 11th ‘NadoStar’ Singing Contest... Eunpyeong-gu ‘Human Rights Activist&

Freshman Empathy Talk Held on the 11th

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Jun-hee) is conducting various and new projects targeting the MZ generation to communicate with newcomers.

First, over 10 sessions, a newcomer empathy talk titled ‘Listening to the MZ Generation’ is held for 83 new employees. The newcomer empathy talk, started last year by the mayor as an effort for change, is designed as a comfortable space where newcomers can freely share their thoughts.

Instead of the traditional meeting format, the mayor and participating employees wear sparkling name tags instead of stiff official badges, solve fun quizzes about public service life, and communicate like friendly neighbors.

This year’s new initiative, ‘Welcome, This Is Your First Time Mentoring, Right?’ involves 2-3 year employees mentoring newcomers to help them adapt to public service life like friends.

Especially, this mentoring program’s content and method were decided based on a prior survey of participating MZ generation employees. Reflecting the MZ generation’s emphasis on SNS, mentoring is conducted over three months using open chat rooms and employee bulletin boards, providing vitality to the organization and sharing a pleasant workplace culture beyond just the participants.

Through manager training to understand the characteristics and trends of the MZ generation, projects such as ‘Escape from Old-School, Becoming a Generation-Understanding Leader’ including reading events and special employee lectures are also underway to help members recognize and understand their differences.

As a start, during March, the ‘Escape from Old-School, Gifticon is Coming’ event is ongoing, where participants read books related to the MZ generation and submit reading reviews. To support this, desired books are purchased and distributed by department, and recommended books are displayed at the entrance of the Administrative Support Division, encouraging employees to voluntarily read and participate in change and communication.

Other small but meaningful changes are also being practiced, such as providing lunch hosted by department heads upon probation completion to encourage communication in the ‘Newcomer, Are You Eating Well?’ event, refraining from giving gifts like flowers or orchids during personnel transfers, avoiding lunch delivery errands for junior staff, and respecting dining cultures like solo meals and drinks, reflecting recent youth trends.

Additionally, systematic manuals on essential tasks and systems that new public officials must know are provided to help newcomers quickly adapt to work and be deployed on site immediately.

A Gwanak-gu official said, “We hope that the first workplace experience of newcomers who joined during the difficult COVID-19 period becomes more friendly and smooth through various activities for the MZ generation. We will continue to create a workplace culture where trust and respect among members are possible through diverse and new communication methods, so that both individual public officials and the organization can grow further.”

Han River Rowing Experience

Mapo-gu (Mayor Yoo Dong-gyun) announced that it will support 5.7 billion KRW in educational expense subsidies to foster talent and create a happy school culture through Mapo’s unique education.

This amount is 1.2 billion KRW more than last year’s educational expense subsidies and supports a total of 541 educational projects across 75 schools including kindergartens, elementary, middle, high schools, and other schools.

In Mapo-gu, the number of private academies per 10,000 students is 252, ranking third in Seoul after Gangnam-gu and Seocho-gu, indicating a growing share of private education. Accordingly, Mapo-gu plans to strengthen public education by expanding educational expense subsidies to each school.

This year’s educational expense subsidies are divided into district policy projects and school public contest projects.

The district supports education projects related to ‘one instrument per person, one sport per person, survival swimming and rowing’ so that students graduating from schools in Mapo can learn and practice these. Additionally, 2.23804 billion KRW is invested in district policy projects including ▲software education support and competitions ▲English activation projects ▲career experience center linked programs ▲elementary after-school care support.

To address educational gaps caused by COVID-19 and create a pleasant school environment, 340 million KRW is provided for ▲basic academic support ▲multimedia library server construction and content purchase ▲quarantine personnel support.

In February, specialized educational projects, academic improvement programs, and facility environment improvement projects were publicly recruited by school, and educational expenses are supported semiannually for projects selected through the educational expense subsidy review committee.

Since 2003, Mapo-gu has provided a total of 60 billion KRW in educational expense subsidies to schools, and in 2019, it became the first in Seoul to support 300,000 KRW for middle school students’ uniform purchases, among various educational support projects.

A district official said, “We will continue proactive educational support projects to nurture excellent talents who will lead the 4th Industrial Revolution era and create a happy educational environment for students.”

Songpa-gu (Mayor Park Sung-soo) announced it is recruiting institutions to participate in the ‘Youth Cultural Activity Public Project’ and the ‘Ttoraeul Youth Cultural Space Public Project’ until the 18th.

The district is promoting various cultural activity activation projects so that youth can independently and voluntarily engage in club activities, career experiences, hobbies, and grow into future talents.

First, through the ‘Youth Cultural Activity Public Project,’ non-profit corporations and organizations related to children and youth in the region, as well as child and youth facilities, are invited to apply for projects in ▲counseling, career, aptitude, education ▲job experience (barista, baking, cooking, handicrafts, etc.). The district plans to support project costs around 2 million KRW depending on the scale, nature, and content of the programs.

Additionally, the district’s unique youth-specialized project, the ‘Ttoraeul Youth Cultural Space Public Project,’ supports club activities so that youth can experience cultural activities and grow healthily.

‘Ttoraeul’ is short for ‘a fence where peers gather,’ a cultural space created by the district by discovering and opening idle spaces in public and private facilities in the region for youth to use for career experiences, hobbies, etc. Currently, a total of 15 Ttoraeul spaces operate in youth centers, welfare centers, and community service centers.

This year, Ttoraeul is also calling for applications in ▲youth programs ▲youth club activities. Applicants include existing Ttoraeul, youth facilities, and corporations in the region wishing to be designated as Ttoraeul. However, new Ttoraeul facilities must have and open spaces suitable for youth cultural activities. The district supports about 2.5 million KRW per facility for program costs and about 800,000 KRW for youth club activity costs.

Institutions wishing to participate in each public project can refer to the Songpa-gu website’s public notice and submit applications by email by the 18th. The district will comprehensively review project suitability, economy, and execution ability and announce final results on April 8 on the district website. Both projects will run from May to November.

Songpa-gu Mayor Park Sung-soo said, “We expect that through these public projects, youth exhausted by COVID-19 will be able to freely express their talents and creativity. We will continue to support youth so they can grow into excellent future talents in academics, culture, leisure, and other fields.”

Eunpyeong-gu (Mayor Kim Mi-kyung) is recruiting students for the ‘2022 Human Rights Activist & Gender Equality Village Leader Training Course’ to cultivate understanding and sensitivity about human rights among Eunpyeong residents interested in human rights and gender equality.

Based on the ‘Eunpyeong-gu Human Rights Ordinance,’ the district provides various customized human rights education annually to residents. This year, it has prepared a diverse training course with 11 different educational topics of 2 hours each session and an integrated workshop, and is recruiting students.

The education is completely free, and outstanding graduates will receive benefits supporting human rights violation prevention activities.

Especially this year, besides face-to-face education, an online course using ZOOM has been newly introduced to expand educational choices for residents wishing to participate.

The recruitment period is until April 15. Applicants can download the application form from the Eunpyeong-gu website, fill it out, and apply by email. Selection will consider applicants’ willingness to participate.

An official from the Eunpyeong Human Rights Center said, “We hope this year’s training course becomes an incubating process for human rights violation prevention activities led and monitored by citizens in Eunpyeong-gu. We plan to continuously and gradually expand human rights education opportunities so that more residents can participate in various human rights education and detailed topics and move forward together as Eunpyeong human rights activists.”

Geumcheon-gu (Mayor Yoo Sung-hoon) is recruiting participants for the ‘11th Nado Star Geumcheon Children & Youth Singing Contest’ from March 14 to April 8.

This contest is a festival for children and youth to enjoy together. Anyone aged 5 to 18 residing in Geumcheon-gu or attending school in Geumcheon-gu can participate.

The participation categories are ▲preschool children ▲elementary school solo (lower grades, upper grades) ▲elementary school chorus ▲middle and high school, totaling five categories. The song must be a freely chosen children’s song or art song within about 3 minutes, and accompaniment is allowed only by piano. For preliminaries, unaccompanied participation is also possible, and those applying by March 25 (Friday) can receive accompaniment audio support.

Children and youth wishing to participate can download the application form from the ‘Geumcheon News’ section on the Geumcheon-gu website by April 8, fill it out, and submit it along with a singing video and accompaniment sheet music via email or visit the Children & Youth Division on the 7th floor of the district office.

Participants will undergo preliminary video screening on April 14 and compete in the finals on May 10 at 3 PM at the Geumnarae Art Hall. The finals will be live-streamed on YouTube for residents.

Geumcheon-gu Mayor Yoo Sung-hoon said, “I hope this event becomes a place where children and youth in Geumcheon-gu can fully showcase their hidden talents and abilities. We will do our best to prepare the contest so that it is a place for all participants to enjoy rather than compete.”

Jung-gu (Mayor Seo Yang-ho) has prepared professional lectures on educational methods for parents of elementary school children.

Jung-gu will hold the ‘2022 1st Elementary School Parent Academy’ every Thursday for a month starting March 17. The academy is for elementary students and their parents in the region and will be held at the Jung-gu Education Support Center, basement level 1.

There are three lectures: on the 17th and 24th, lecturer Lee Eun-kyung will speak on ‘Direction of Elementary School Advanced Learning’ and ‘Elementary School Reading Education,’ respectively; on the 31st, lecturer Lee Jin will give a lecture on ‘Raising Our Children in the Digital World.’ These lectures are expected to be very helpful in setting educational directions for lower-grade elementary children.

Invited lecturer Lee Eun-kyung, CEO of Slow Campus, taught elementary school teachers for over 10 years in Gyeonggi-do and other areas and has authored 22 books including ‘Elementary Self-Directed Study Method,’ introducing ways for children to find study methods suited to themselves, develop their strengths, and improve weaknesses.

Also, Lee Jin, CEO of Oyou Kids, is a professional lecturer with 14 years of experience lecturing parents and teachers. She plans to explain proper digital usage methods and parental guidance attitudes in detail for students struggling with learning due to digital exposure.

Parents can apply for on-site participation through the Jung-gu Education Support Center website. Those unable to attend in person can watch live-streamed lectures via Jung-gu’s YouTube channel, Euljiro Jeonpasa.

Jung-gu Mayor Seo Yang-ho said, “Due to COVID-19, children have experienced learning gaps, and parents naturally feel anxious about this situation. I hope this education helps alleviate the anxieties of children and parents.”

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