Ministry of the Interior and Safety Selects 100 Youth Community Teams... Supporting Local Activities

341 Youth Community Teams Applied from 11 Cities and Provinces Nationwide, Average Competition Rate 3.4 to 1
Ministry of the Interior and Safety and 11 Cities and Provinces Nationwide Provide 8 Million KRW per Team for Task Execution Expenses

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] One hundred youth community teams are active across various regions nationwide, adding new vitality to their local areas.

On the 22nd, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced that it has selected 100 youth community teams to participate in the '2021 Youth Community Revitalization Project' and will actively promote activities to invigorate local communities. The Youth Community Revitalization Project was established to help young people settle in local areas and to breathe new life into those regions. It was first implemented in 2017 with 51 teams participating.

Notably, starting this year, the project was converted into a local government subsidy program, significantly expanding the scale of participating teams and allowing more youth to join. The number of participating teams increased from 16 last year to 100 this year.

To select the youth communities participating in this project, the Ministry conducted a public contest from January to March. As a result, 341 youth community teams applied from 11 cities and provinces nationwide, recording a high competition rate of 3.4 to 1 on average. Based on each city and province’s own selection plans, 100 teams were finally chosen.

The 100 teams nationwide that passed the competition will carry out various activities linked to their regions for about seven months until November. The youth communities will promote a wide range of activities connected to their local areas, including ?hosting events for regional vitality and local exchange and cooperation ?establishing foundations for local settlement such as startups and agricultural entrepreneurship ?building networks with local residents and youth ?developing content utilizing local resources.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the 11 cities and provinces nationwide will support the youth communities with task execution funds (8 million KRW per team), provide mentoring and expert advice, and hold events to form regional networks. After the team activities conclude, a ‘final performance sharing meeting’ will be held to share key activity outcomes, and outstanding participating teams will be awarded commendations.

Like ‘Wasshu’ from Hongseong, Chungnam, and ‘Jitda’ from Jeju, which participated last year, each youth community plans to carry out various activities to revitalize their regions, and it is expected to greatly contribute to the revitalization of areas that have been stagnant due to COVID-19.

Kim Hak-hong, Director of Regional Innovation Policy, said, “Young people are the main players who will lead the revitalization of regions that have been stagnant due to the COVID-19 situation,” and added, “We will continue to support many young people to grow into excellent talents who contribute to their local communities through their activities.”