Reasons Why Nowon-gu Is a Great Place to Raise Children

[Seoul District News] Nowon-gu Wins the Highest Award, the Presidential Award, at the 2022 Childcare Merit Government Awards Hosted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare; ‘Nowon Safe Daycare Center’ Reduces Teacher-to-Child Ratio, Improves Childcare Services with Child-Friendly Taxi and Environment Enhancements, Recognized as a Child-Friendly City with Nowon-Style Childcare Policies... Jungnang Disabled Independent Living Center Creates Handwritten Fonts as Part of Talent Sharing Activities, Distributes 5 Free Fonts to Local Residents & Available for Download on Jungnang-gu Office Website

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Nowon-gu (District Mayor Oh Seung-rok) announced that it received the highest award, the Presidential Award, at the 2022 Childcare Merit Government Awards hosted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

Until now, the district has actively communicated with childcare sites and proactively developed and implemented childcare policies. As a result, it was recognized as a child-friendly city by receiving the highest award in the local government category, the Presidential Award, in the nationwide childcare merit evaluation conducted for local governments.

In particular, the district received high praise for actively discovering childcare policies reflecting its unique characteristics and vigorously carrying out projects to improve the childcare environment through active contests and benchmarking to enhance the quality of childcare services.

The most notable initiative was the ‘Nowon Safe Daycare Centers’ launched in March this year. The district implemented a project to improve childcare quality by reducing the teacher-to-child ratio and expanding the area per child in 80 public, private, and home daycare centers within the region.

Instead of supporting personnel expenses to hire additional teachers, the district made a bold attempt to reduce the number of children per daycare center and support the corresponding class operation costs, lowering the teacher-to-child ratio below the legal standard: 1:2 for 0-year-old and disabled children classes, and 1:12 for 3-year-old classes.

This expanded play space for infants and toddlers, improved the working environment for childcare staff, and enhanced the interaction between teachers and children, enabling individualized childcare that considers each child's developmental differences, significantly increasing satisfaction in childcare sites. Next year, the target age groups will be expanded to include 1-year-old and 4-year-old classes.

Next, the customized transportation service for vulnerable groups such as pregnant women and households with infants and toddlers, ‘Nowon Child-Friendly Taxi,’ also received high marks.

Nowon Child-Friendly Taxi can be used when visiting hospitals and clinics for various tests and vaccinations. Unlike other local governments that simply provide transportation expenses, the district directly employs drivers and operates the service through Nowon Senior Happiness Corporation, which it invested in and established, ensuring safe and reliable use.

So far, a total of 4,289 rides have been operated, with over 1,300 cumulative users, showing strong public response. From this year, the service has been expanded beyond medical institution visits to include visits to childcare-related facilities.

Additionally, since 2020, the district has been continuously striving to create a safe and comfortable environment for children by conducting ‘Green Remodeling of Public Daycare Centers’ in nine locations to improve energy efficiency and childcare environments, and supporting ‘Daycare Center Environment Improvement Expenses’ for a total of 298 centers including public, private, and home daycare centers.

Moreover, the district actively promotes childcare-related projects such as the ‘Toy Boongboong’ program, which delivers toys suitable for infants’ developmental stages directly to homes to reduce the burden of toy purchases for families, and installed ‘Stroller Sterilizers’ in Hwarangdae Railroad Park and Bulamsan Healing Town in April this year to alleviate anxiety caused by COVID-19 infections and fine dust.

Oh Seung-rok, Mayor of Nowon-gu, said, “This award is the result of continuous communication with childcare stakeholders and various project attempts to improve the quality of childcare services. We will continue to do our best to make Nowon a happy and child-friendly city for both children and parents.”

Jungnang-gu (District Mayor Ryu Kyung-gi) under the Jungnang Disabled Independent Living Center has created free handwritten fonts for residents.

The fonts include five types: Yeppeun Font, Jaehoon Font, Minwoo Font, Choi Eui-jun Font, and Kim Soon-duk Font, produced as part of the ‘Jungnang JMT’ activities. ‘Jungnang JMT’ stands for ‘Let’s Live Together in the Village with Disabled People!’ and refers to activities aimed at creating an inclusive community where no one is excluded.

Besides font creation, meaningful activities that disabled persons can do with residents in the neighborhood, such as jointly maintained healing gardens, are also being carried out.

The fonts, created as part of participants’ talent-sharing activities, are all available for free download on the Jungnang-gu Office website and the Jungnang Disabled Independent Living Center website.

Participants ranged from elementary school students to people in their 60s, including those with developmental and physical disabilities. One participant shared, “At first, I didn’t know if this was a talent and felt burdened, but thinking that many residents would use my handwriting made me proud and it was a unique experience.”

The handwritten fonts can be freely used by anyone, including for commercial and profit purposes. However, selling the fonts for profit or modifying and redistributing them is prohibited.

Ryu Kyung-gi, Mayor of Jungnang-gu, said, “I sincerely thank the Disabled Independent Living Center and participants who created these gift-like handwritten fonts for the year-end. We will continue to be a Jungnang-gu that accompanies disabled people to gain diverse experiences and opportunities.”

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