Acting Mayor Hye Min Choi of Gwangmyeong Introduces 'Gwangmyeong-Style Geunyang Dream' Best Practices to Minister Eun-Kyung Jung

Hye Min Choi, Acting Mayor (Vice Mayor) of Gwangmyeong, introduced the city's field-centered welfare model, the 'Geunyang Dream' project, to Eun-Kyung Jung, Minister of Health and Welfare, and began efforts to spread exemplary cases.

Hye-min Choi, Acting Mayor (Deputy Mayor) of Gwangmyeong, is introducing Gwangmyeong City's 'Geunyangdream' project as a field-centered welfare model to Eun-kyung Jung, Minister of Health and Welfare. Provided by Gwangmyeong City

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On April 21, Acting Mayor Choi, together with Minister Jung, visited the Gwangmyeong Food Bank Market Center, where the 'Geunyang Dream' project is underway. They inspected the site and Choi explained the city's proactive field welfare system for identifying households in crisis.

This visit by Minister Jung was made ahead of the launch of the full-fledged 'Geunyang Dream' project in May, with the purpose of listening to voices on the ground and reflecting best practices in policy by visiting a local government that is effectively operating the program.

The 'Geunyang Dream' project is a community-based welfare initiative that provides basic food to citizens facing sudden crises, without any special conditions, to quickly alleviate emergencies. The core of the project is not only to provide simple support but also to identify households in crisis early and connect them to public welfare services.

Based on field experience accumulated since the 2021 'Gyeonggi-do Food Geunyang Dream' project, Gwangmyeong City is now effectively implementing the government's 'Geunyang Dream' project.

Gwangmyeong City is regarded as the most effective operator of the current government-led 'Geunyang Dream' project, leveraging extensive field experience built up since the 2021 'Gyeonggi-do Food Geunyang Dream' project. In particular, the city has maximized the effectiveness of support by directly managing cases and connecting a significant number of users to public welfare services.

In fact, since the opening of the 'Geunyang Dream' section on December 1 last year, the cumulative number of visits as of April 20 stands at 4,195. The number of unique users, excluding repeat visits, is 2,368.

Among them, 385 users, or about 16.3%, were referred to welfare counseling at the local administrative welfare centers, and of these, 175 have received the necessary welfare services.

This rate of counseling referrals is the highest among the 13 'Geunyang Dream' sections established in Gyeonggi Province.

In addition, other local governments, such as Geumcheon-gu, Osan City, and Uijeongbu City, have visited the site to benchmark Gwangmyeong City's operational know-how. Interest is spreading nationwide, with not only site visits but also numerous telephone inquiries.

Acting Mayor Choi expressed her determination by stating, "We will continue to proactively identify households in crisis through field-centered close administration and further advance the functions of the Food Market Bank Center and the Geunyang Dream project to establish the best welfare model in the country."

The city plans to further strengthen its welfare functions by expanding rest areas and professional counseling spaces at the Food Bank Market Center, which is scheduled to be relocated in the future, for the convenience of users.

Minister Jung highly evaluated Gwangmyeong City's systematic welfare linkage system and encouraged the local government's active efforts to identify blind spots in welfare.

Acting Mayor Choi added, "We will further reinforce the welfare safety net through close cooperation with the central government," and promised, "We will focus all administrative capabilities to ensure that not a single citizen is left behind."

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