Nowon-gu, Guiding Youth as Future Leaders in Community Development...

Started in 2011 at Gongneung Youth Culture Information Center, Continuing for 10 Years... 71 Participating Clubs and About 400 Members on 'Bicycle Safety,' 'Menstrual Awareness Change,' 'Small Business Protection, Market Revitalization'... Active Activities Through Online Meetings Amid COVID-19 Situation

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Nowon-gu (Mayor Oh Seung-rok) is achieving great results with social experience activities that support youth, the future leaders, to encourage their interest in the local community.

Started in 2011 at the Gongneung Youth Culture Information Center under the slogan "Started Change," this project is a social experience activity designed to help young people take an interest not only in their academic activities but also in the communities where they live.

The participation method involves forming clubs of 4 to 6 students from the same school who submit activity plans aimed at changing their neighborhood or school surroundings. After evaluation, support is provided through workshops, activity funds (250,000 to 400,000 KRW), and mentor assistance to help with the activities.

Currently, seven youth institutions including the Seoul Metropolitan Nowon Youth Center, Sanggye Youth Culture House, and Nowon Youth Job Experience Center, along with middle and high school teachers, assist student activities. There are 71 participating clubs with about 400 members.

Representative clubs include the ‘Bicycle Safety Boys’ who create campaign videos to reduce bicycle accident rates, ‘Lysianthus’ which conducts surveys and produces card news related to youth human rights, and ‘Rondo’ which is running a menstrual awareness change project called "Walk Proudly Anywhere."

The ‘Bicycle Safety Boys’ produced videos by reenacting possible accident scenarios on the Jungnangcheon bicycle path, which will be used in school safety education.

‘Lysianthus’ is a club formed by five high school students to raise awareness of youth human rights. They study human rights through participation in democratic citizenship education programs and distribute card news via SNS.

‘Rondo’ is a club of seven students active since 2016 to change perceptions about menstruation among female students. To change the attitude of feeling ashamed about words like menstruation and period, they collected data and conducted surveys themselves, creating storybooks and postcards for children. This year, with support from the Emergency Sanitary Pad Placement Culture Expansion Project Team, they also produced promotional booklets.

Club recruitment is promoted every February through the Nowon-gu Office blog and youth institutions, with applications accepted by school in March when the semester begins. After recruitment, workshops are held to share activity methods and best practices. Participating students also receive volunteer hours.

Past activities are introduced through the YouTube channel ‘Started Change.’ The annual online sharing event to conclude and encourage activities features club members acting as human books presenting their activities, while other clubs become readers and leave comments with their impressions.

Mayor Oh Seung-rok stated, “Started Change is where our youth take their first small steps to contribute to community development. Despite the difficulties of the COVID-19 situation, we will continue to provide active support to the young people who have worked for the community.”