Nowon-gu, the Reason It Became a Social Economy Hub... Social Economy Support Center Building 4

[Seoul District News] Nowon-gu Begins Construction of Nowon Social Economy Support Center Building 4 at 450-6 Sanggye 5-dong, 370㎡ from B1 to 2F in March, Scheduled for Completion in March Next Year; Resident Briefing Held at Sanggye 5-dong Community Center on 22nd at 2 PM... Seongbuk-gu Provides Resident Autonomy Leader Training for 20 Dong Chairpersons... Gangseo-gu Hosts 'Visiting Resident Autonomy Workshop' Until April 1... Dongjak-gu Offers Up to 5 Million KRW for Village Community Project Grants... Gangdong-gu Launches ‘Mom-Pyeonhan Sesang’ Support Policy Covering Pregnancy to Childcare

Bird's-eye view of Nowon Social Economy Support Center Building 4

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Nowon-gu (Mayor Oh Seung-rok) is planning to build the ‘Nowon Social Economy Support Center Building 4’ on a vacant lot in Sanggye-dong, which is expected to become a hub for social economy.

The construction of the Social Economy Support Center Building 4 aims to provide stable business spaces for social economy enterprises, create local jobs, and carry out various projects such as building social economy networks.

The center will be a building with facilities including offices for social economy enterprises, product production rooms, and shared warehouses, spanning from basement level 1 to the 2nd floor above ground. The total project cost is 2 billion KRW, with construction starting in March this year and the opening scheduled for March next year.

The site is located near Sanggye Station, opposite Gyesang Elementary School in Sanggye 5-dong (Sanggye-dong 450-6). The district plans to reorganize the space previously used as a collection site for spent fluorescent lamps and build the center there. Building 1, located in Gongneung 1-dong, serves the Wolgye and Gongneung areas; Building 2 in Junggyebon-dong serves Junggye and Hagye areas; Building 3 in Sanggye 1-dong serves Surak and Madeul areas. With Building 4 responsible for the Sanggye area, social economy-related projects can be thoroughly carried out throughout the region.

The district’s active expansion of the Social Economy Support Centers to four buildings by area is largely due to the visible achievements of the social economy support projects operated so far.

Building 1, which opened in 2016, has carried out various projects such as customized education and consulting for social economy enterprises. As a result, the number of social economy enterprises located in Nowon-gu increased by 104%, from 92 in 2015 to 188 in 2022. Enterprises housed in the center showed a 135% increase in sales and an 81% increase in employment through space support projects. The center also plays a central role in public projects for collaboration and nurturing of local social economy enterprises, status surveys, website operation, and newsletter production.

Building 2, opened in 2020, focuses on supporting workspace demands of small-scale social enterprises. Two social enterprises currently residing in Building 2, which is equipped with office space, workspaces, warehouses, and rest areas, manufacture and sell food and beverage products through lunchbox production and delivery for children at risk of food insecurity and education and employment of people with developmental disabilities. The district selects enterprises that can grow alongside the local economy through social economy activities via tenant screening, and enterprises secure necessary spaces for business activities at rental fees lower than market rates.

Building 3, newly opened this year in Sanggye 1-dong, is a five-story building with a total floor area of 434㎡. It held its opening ceremony on the 30th and has begun full operation. The 1st and 2nd floors house the secretariat, education rooms, and meeting rooms, while the 3rd to 5th floors provide space for five resident enterprises and one-person startup rooms for prospective entrepreneurs lacking capital. The building plans to focus on revitalizing the local social economy ecosystem.

The district will hold a residents’ briefing session at 2 p.m. on the 22nd at the Sanggye 5-dong Community Center to promote the construction of the center. This briefing marks the official start of the Building 4 project and aims to gather diverse residents’ opinions to promote a support center built together with the local community.

About 60 people, including local members of the National Assembly, city and district council members, social economy stakeholders, and residents, will attend the briefing session, which will proceed in the order of ▲project overview and future schedule ▲design intent and current status explanation ▲opinion collection and Q&A.

Oh Seung-rok, Mayor of Nowon-gu, stated, “We will continue to spare no support to establish a foundation where social economy organizations can grow together with the local community.”

Seongbuk-gu (Mayor Lee Seung-ro) conducted resident autonomy capacity-building leader training for resident autonomy chairpersons on the 21st.

The training was held for the Resident Autonomy Council, composed of chairpersons from 20 dong resident autonomy committees, to cultivate democratic leadership and autonomy mindset.

Considering the spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant, the training was conducted with a small number of participants. It consisted of discussions on the role and direction of resident autonomy chairpersons for realizing more mature resident autonomy, specific activity cases, and tasks according to the roles of different stakeholders, receiving great response on site.

The district announced that starting with this resident autonomy leader training, it will continue to provide customized training in various fields such as training for executives and secretaries to strengthen the capabilities of resident autonomy committee members and realize resident-led resident autonomy.

Additionally, a Resident Autonomy Academy is scheduled for the 29th. Over two days and four sessions, about 200 executives including chairpersons, vice-chairpersons, secretaries, and division heads of resident autonomy committees will receive training on the roles of executives and the design of resident autonomy plans. This aims to prepare for discovering essential local agendas and establishing resident autonomy plans with high public value.

Lee Seung-ro, Mayor of Seongbuk-gu, said, “In the With-COVID era, we will explore ways with residents to prevent the weakening of resident autonomy functions, strengthen the capabilities of resident autonomy committees, which are the foundation of decentralized autonomy, and support the activation of grassroots autonomy.”

Gangseo-gu, Seoul (Mayor Noh Hyun-song) is strengthening the autonomy capacity of dong resident autonomy committees.

The district announced that it will conduct the ‘2022 Visiting Resident Autonomy Workshop’ targeting all 20 dong resident autonomy committees by April 1.

The purpose is to help residents independently investigate, discover agendas, establish plans, and derive implementation measures to solve local issues.

This workshop is especially designed to strengthen the capabilities of autonomy committee members by focusing on discovering local agendas for the 2023 autonomy plan.

Starting on the 21st with Ujangsan-dong and Hwagok 3-dong, the workshop will be held for two dongs per day. Kim San, a Seoul City cooperation education specialist, and Yeo Yong-ok, CEO of the Regional Value Education Institute, will serve as instructors providing customized education based on the agendas of each dong.

Customized education on local agenda discovery will be conducted based on the pre-prepared local and environmental characteristics and issues encountered during agenda discovery for each dong.

Additionally, excellent cases from other regions will be used to explain agenda discovery methods more easily and in detail.

After the education, discussions by resident autonomy committee subcommittees for agenda development will follow. Facilitators will assist to ensure smooth decision-making processes and effective discussions.

The workshop will also include focused training to improve practical skills such as agenda proposal writing and provide time for communication through Q&A with instructors.

The district expects this workshop to be a meaningful opportunity to strengthen the capabilities of resident autonomy committee members and to derive diverse agendas reflecting local characteristics and culture.

Each dong resident autonomy committee will discover agendas suited to their characteristics based on the workshop, establish more complete autonomy plans, finalize projects through resident general meetings in August, and begin full project implementation in 2023.

A district official said, “We hope this workshop will greatly help realize resident autonomy in daily life, where residents gather opinions and solve problems themselves. We will spare no support to ensure that the local agendas discovered through the workshop are connected to projects.”

Dongjak-gu (Mayor Lee Chang-woo) is promoting the ‘2022 Dongjak-gu Village Community Contest Project’ until the 29th to form and revitalize village communities in the urban area.

This contest project supports local resident communities to independently consider and solve everyday issues such as climate crisis, life safety, family, and caregiving.

The contest fields include ▲‘Happy Village Making’ to solve metropolitan social problems ▲Happy Alley Making ▲‘Our Village Space Support Project’ to spread village life through base spaces. The district plans to provide project funds ranging from 2 million to 5 million KRW depending on the support field.

Applicants must be resident groups or organizations with three or more members residing or living in Dongjak-gu.

Applications can be submitted on the Seoul Village Community Comprehensive Support Center website until the 29th.

The district will select final winners on April 8 after document review and on-site visits based on criteria such as project necessity, public interest, feasibility, voluntary resident participation, budget realism, and cooperation with local resources. Selected village communities will operate from April, the contract date, until October 31.

Meanwhile, to guide the project, the district has shared a project briefing video on the Dongjak-gu Village Autonomy Center YouTube channel since the 16th and is accepting pre-consultation applications for resident groups or organizations wishing to participate until the 27th.

For inquiries about the Dongjak-gu Village Community Contest Project, contact the Village Project Team of the Autonomous Administration Division.

Joo Seon-i, head of the Autonomous Administration Division, said, “We will focus support on projects that can realize public interest to expand resident participation this year. We hope many residents will participate so that various village community solutions can be proposed in this pandemic era, when community recovery is more necessary than ever.”

Gangdong-gu (Mayor Lee Jung-hoon) will produce and distribute a guidebook titled ‘Mom’s Comfortable World,’ which organizes various support policies from pregnancy to childcare in an easy-to-understand format.

Various childbirth encouragement support policies are currently guided and implemented by individual fields, but many miss the opportunity or fail to receive support because they are unaware of applicable programs. Especially during the first experience of pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare, it is not easy to gather information in advance and plan applications.

Accordingly, the district produced the ‘Mom’s Comfortable World’ booklet containing support information from marriage to childcare, including key information on a total of 81 support programs and contact details of responsible institutions.

The booklet is organized by desired information according to period and topic, including ▲marriage, pregnancy, and childbirth support ▲becoming a parent support ▲infant and toddler care support ▲multiple children care support ▲childcare, youth protection, and nurturing support ▲useful information. It is produced in a compact size that can be easily carried in one hand.

The booklet is distributed to residents applying for birth registration and one-stop happy childbirth services at local dong community centers and is also freely provided to residents who visit the centers and request it.

Lee Jung-hoon, Mayor of Gangdong-gu, said, “As various childbirth encouragement policies are implemented, it is important to guide households that can use this information. We will continue to check and deliver even the smallest details to make Gangdong a happy city for all generations.”

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