Gwangmyeong-Style "Geunyang Dream" Emerges as a National Role Model for Eliminating Welfare Blind Spots

Gwangmyeong City's "Geunyang Dream" project is attracting attention as an outstanding field-oriented welfare model, with a series of other local governments benchmarking the initiative.

Gwangmyeong City's 'Geunyang Dream' project is gaining attention as an excellent welfare model focused on fieldwork, with consecutive benchmarking from other local governments. Provided by Gwangmyeong City

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The city announced on April 15 that, ahead of the full-scale launch of the Geunyang Dream project in May, it has been receiving a steady stream of visits and inquiries from other local governments.

In January, the Welfare Policy Division of Geumcheon District visited Gwangmyeong City, followed by the Hope Welfare Division of Osan City on April 2, and the Welfare Policy Division of Uijeongbu City on April 14 to learn about the project’s operational practices. National interest is spreading, with not only on-site visits but also ongoing phone inquiries from across the country.

This growing attention is attributed to the unique operational expertise that Gwangmyeong City has incorporated into the Geunyang Dream project.

The Geunyang Dream project is a welfare initiative that provides essential food items without any conditions to citizens facing sudden crises, quickly alleviating emergency situations. Beyond simple support, the project aims to identify households in crisis at an early stage and connect them to public welfare services.

Gwangmyeong City has further enhanced the project’s effectiveness by proactively managing individual cases and establishing a preemptive response system directly operated by the city.

Since 2021, the city has accumulated on-the-ground experience through the operation of the “Gyeonggi Food Geunyang Dream” program, and has systematized counseling and the connection of welfare resources, evolving the initiative into a “Gwangmyeong-style” welfare model.

The Geunyang Dream project, currently operated at the Gwangmyeong Food Bank Market Center, is delivering tangible results in the field.

Since the opening of the Geunyang Dream corner on December 1 last year, the program has recorded a total of 4,082 uses as of April 13. Excluding repeat visits, the number of unique users stands at 2,330.

Of these, about 16%-a total of 366 users-were connected to welfare counseling at local administrative welfare centers, and 160 of them have already received the necessary welfare services.

This counseling linkage performance is the highest among the 11 Geunyang Dream corners established in Gyeonggi Province.

Furthermore, in March, Gwangmyeong City led the dissemination of the policy by presenting its outstanding pilot case to local governments nationwide at the “Geunyang Dream Core Staff Workshop” hosted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

The city plans to further strengthen its welfare functions by expanding rest areas and counseling spaces at the Food Bank Market Center, which is scheduled for relocation, in order to enhance convenience for Geunyang Dream users.

Choi Hyemin, Acting Mayor (Deputy Mayor) of Gwangmyeong City, stated, "The Gwangmyeong-style Geunyang Dream is a field-oriented welfare model that identifies citizens in crisis first and delivers support most rapidly. We will continue to build a thorough welfare safety net to create a city without welfare blind spots."

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