What Are the Main Details of Yeongdeungpo-gu's Youth Support Projects This Year?

Implementation of Youth-Led Policies Through Establishing Youth Policy Participation and Communication Foundations...Active Promotion of Multifaceted Support Projects Including Employment and Startup Support, Skill Enhancement, and Youth Community Activation for Successful Youth Independence...Online and Offline Support Policies Operated Concurrently Considering COVID-19 Spread

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Yeongdeungpo-gu (District Mayor Chae Hyun-il) announced plans to promote various youth support projects together with young people to encourage and actively support the hopeful dreams of the youth who will lead future generations.

Following last year, this year as well, in response to the spread of COVID-19, they will flexibly utilize both online and offline methods to carry out youth support projects without interruption.

The main contents of this year’s youth support projects are as follows.

First, through the operation of online and offline youth hub spaces, they will guarantee opportunities for youth policy participation and communication, establishing an autonomous policy operation model led directly by the youth generation, the policy stakeholders themselves.

Since October 2019, the district has operated ‘Mujungryukjidae-Yeongdeungpo’ as an open space where young people can freely communicate and gain diverse experiences.

This year, under the slogan “Create Your Next, the place where youth make their future,” they are planning educational and lecture programs aimed at helping young people explore career paths and gain social participation experiences.

Additionally, to provide psychological stability and vitality to young people exhausted by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and employment difficulties, they are preparing healing programs such as hobby activity support and online concerts with young artists.

To support the dreams of young people aspiring to work in the architecture industry, the district opened the ‘Yeongdeungpo Youth Architecture School’ in 2018 and has been dedicated to nurturing professional talent.

This year as well, they will conduct technical training in interior architecture, tiling, wallpapering, and more, actively supporting the discovery and development of future architectural talents.

Furthermore, the district has focused on expanding youth policy participation opportunities to discover customized policies and to build and activate a public-private cooperative governance system led by youth themselves.

The Yeongdeungpo Youth Network, formed through autonomous youth participation, contributes to creating policies for local youth by having members deliberate and discuss youth policies, which are then approved by the Seoul Youth Citizens’ Assembly, leading to the formulation of the next year’s youth autonomous budget.

This year, they will focus on operating the ‘Yeongdeungpo Youth Housing Stability Support’ project derived from last year’s Yeongdeungpo Youth Network activities, steadily carrying out real estate education programs for young workers, self-repair training, and living environment improvement projects for single-person youth households.

Second, they will activate employment and startup support projects and capacity-building education to help youth achieve successful independence.

Continuing from last year, the ‘Y-VS (Young-Venture Startup) Project’ supports young prospective and early-stage entrepreneurs by providing business funding, marketing and investment mentoring programs, and market development, aiming to nurture future startup talents and strengthen the youth startup ecosystem.

In line with rapidly changing social structural environments such as the 4th Industrial Revolution, they are planning educational programs to enhance employment capabilities, including specialized technical training in big data and one-person media, mentoring by current professionals, and resume consulting.

Third, they will expand the ‘Youth Public Job Project’ to provide young people preparing for employment with opportunities to gain social work experience.

The district has annually operated the ‘University Student Part-time Job’ project, allowing university students residing in Yeongdeungpo to experience public service during vacation periods, explore career paths, and build employment capabilities, and this year plans to recruit a total of 200 participants.

Additionally, by securing national and city budgets through the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s ‘Region-led Youth Job Project’ and Seoul City’s ‘Seoul-type New Deal Job’ project competitions, they expect to strengthen employment and startup education across various fields including social economy, culture and arts, content production, and promotion, serving as a stepping stone for employment success.

Yeongdeungpo District Mayor Chae Hyun-il stated, “We will do our best to discover and activate youth support policies so that young people, who are experiencing the worst employment crisis due to the impact of COVID-19, do not lose hope and can realize their dreams with creative and future-oriented thinking.”