Seongbuk-gu Wins Seoul Community Award at 2020 Seoul Village Week

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] At the 2020 Seoul Village Week event organized by the Seoul Village Community Comprehensive Support Center, with participation from all autonomous districts of Seoul, Seongbuk-gu was selected and awarded the Seoul Community Award in the space category (Sorimaeul Resident Community Operation Committee) and the activity category (Seongbuk Small Library Network).

Seoul Village Week, held for seven days from the 24th to the 30th of this month, is a representative festival of village communities where village activists encourage and celebrate each other's community activities.

Started in 2012 and held annually, this year marks the 9th Seoul Village Week.

Due to COVID-19 this year, unfortunately, it cannot be held together in one place and will be conducted online through the Seoul Village Week website.

The Seoul Community Award is given to village groups and village spaces that have contributed to making Seoul a better city through village community activities. It has developed into a platform to share achievements and cases of village community activities and to mutually encourage each other.

The Sorimaeul Resident Community Operation Committee, which won the Seoul Community Award in the space category, is an organization formed to achieve public interest goals such as integrated village regeneration and revitalization of the village community by operating a resident shared facility created through a maintenance project in a residential environment improvement zone.

The resident shared facility operated by the Sorimaeul Resident Community Operation Committee, the Gireum Sorimaeul Center, is located at 14-7, Samyang-ro 9-gil, Seongbuk-gu (Gireum 1-dong). It operates a village caf?, a children's library, and a senior library that residents can use jointly, contributing to village community activities through resident programs and events.

The Seongbuk Small Library Network, which won the Seoul Community Award in the activity category, is an organization where small libraries, which serve as community rooms cultivating alley culture and the lives of neighboring residents, come together as a network to jointly organize, share, and nurture necessary cultural activities in the region.

Since 2011, it has held the Seongbuk Village Book Festival annually, conducting book events for local residents and children. It plays a leading role in operating care classrooms for local children, including gap care, and is expanding the reading culture movement to build a community in the local society.

Seongbuk-gu Mayor Seung-ro Lee stated, “We will work together with residents to foster a village community atmosphere where local problems are solved by the residents themselves and to build a sustainable Seongbuk-gu village ecosystem led by the local community.”