Gwangju Nam-gu Opens Senior Center in Bangnim 2-dong for Job and Income Creation

Photo of the interior of Senior Center in Bangnim 2-dong, Nam-gu, Gwangju. Provided by Nam-gu, Gwangju.

The Senior Center, which will serve as a hub for job creation and income generation for residents of Bangnim 2-dong, Nam-gu, Gwangju, is set to open.

According to Nam-gu on the 9th, an opening ceremony will be held at the Bangnim 2-dong Senior Center at 3 p.m. on the 13th.

Approximately 60 people, including District Mayor Kim Byungnae, Gong Hana Cooperative Association Chairperson Jung Sunyoung, local politicians, and residents, are expected to attend the ceremony.

Nam-gu invested about 1.7 billion KRW to construct the Bangnim 2-dong Senior Center as a two-story building on a 384-square-meter site. To ensure efficient operation, Gong Hana Cooperative Association was selected as the center operator through a public recruitment process last year.

Gong Hana Cooperative Association is a youth cooperative that has been engaging in community activities with residents since 2016 to address local issues. By focusing on job creation in the craft sector and expanding into areas such as care services, the cooperative has been supporting the economic independence of local residents.

The Bangnim 2-dong Senior Center will be utilized as a core space for providing seniors with socio-economic activities and job opportunities.

To this end, Gong Hana Cooperative Association plans to operate a wellness cafe and a shared kitchen on the first floor for the next two years, while the second floor will be used for various programs. This initiative is expected to provide jobs and income opportunities for about 10 local residents.

The wellness cafe will likely offer barista training and sell specialized healthy lunch boxes for seniors, while the shared kitchen will be used for developing and manufacturing products using local food and running cooking programs with resident participation.

Additionally, the second floor will be used for a workshop that collects, sorts, and cleans waste leather to produce recycled products, as well as for community care programs focused on dementia, hip joint health, muscle strength, and other senior health management and prevention activities.

An official from Nam-gu stated, "Bangnim 2-dong has a high proportion of senior residents and has been lacking in infrastructure for economic activities, but the opening of this center has paved a new path. We hope it will become a forward base for job creation and income generation, leading to limitless growth."

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