My Donation Becomes a Precious Meal for Someone

[Seoul District News] Seongdong-gu Expands One Plus One Project to 17 Neighborhoods, Recruiting Restaurants, Hair Salons, and Other Participants... Yeongdeungpo-gu Operates One-Person Media Creator Training Course

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] “Have you heard of One Plus One? The One Plus One you donate becomes a precious meal for someone.”

Seongdong-gu (Mayor Jung Won-oh) has a ‘One Plus One’ project. The ‘One Plus One’ project is a service where when purchasing one item, the donor pays for one more item, and the extra one is shared with those in need.

This project started in 2019 with the idea of Mayor Jung Won-oh of Seongdong-gu. It was initiated to foster a voluntary sharing culture in the private sector to help those in welfare blind spots outside the system, triggered by the tragic case of the three mothers in Songpa-gu.

Initially, a pilot project was conducted in Songjeong-dong and Yongdap-dong, areas with many multi-family houses, led by the residents' autonomous committees. The beneficiaries were crisis subjects and welfare-vulnerable groups outside the welfare service benefits, making it very meaningful. In November 2019, the project expanded from 2 to 7 districts and won the Prime Minister’s Award at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s Public Service Excellence Competition.

However, as COVID-19 changed our daily lives and prolonged economic recession and closures of self-employed businesses continued, it became difficult to find donors among the participating ‘One Plus One’ businesses.

Following the death of the three mothers in Suwon this August, the need for the resident-led ‘One Plus One’ project was raised again, and the district plans to expand it to all 17 neighborhoods.

Accordingly, the residents' autonomous committees are actively recruiting ‘One Plus One’ participating businesses to extend a helping hand to neighbors in need outside the system through voluntary donations. Community leaders who know the neighborhood well will actively find hidden neighbors in difficult circumstances, and each neighborhood community center will accept applications from restaurants, bakeries, supermarkets, beauty salons, and other participating businesses.

Among participating businesses, those such as restaurants and bakeries that can deliver will be introduced as ‘One Plus One’ sharing businesses on the Seongdong delivery app. The district plans to explore various support measures for participating businesses in the future.

Jung Won-oh, Mayor of Seongdong-gu, said, “The interest and sharing of local residents closest to those in welfare blind spots outside the system are a great strength,” and added, “We ask for the active participation of local residents so that neighbors suddenly facing difficulties can overcome those tough moments.”

Yeongdeungpo-gu (Mayor Choi Ho-kwon) announced that it will operate the ‘One-Person Media Creator Training Course’ in 2022 to strengthen young people’s media content production capabilities in response to the 4th Industrial Revolution and support employment and entrepreneurship in related fields.

The district has been operating the ‘Creator Academy’ since 2019 to create youth jobs and provide opportunities for economic independence in the rapidly growing one-person media and video industry, receiving great responses from local youth.

Last year, a total of 25 young people participated in the training, showing high satisfaction and enthusiasm for the classes despite the COVID-19 pandemic requiring non-face-to-face online education, achieving a 100% completion rate.

This year’s training includes ▲content planning, commercialization, copyright ▲video shooting and mobile/PC editing practice ▲content marketing, advertising execution and production ▲one-on-one customized mentoring ▲network building, and more. Systematic education covering all aspects of video media will be provided, from basic theory to field practice, individual mentoring, and network formation.

Considering the current COVID-19 situation, all theory and practical classes held weekly from October 19 to November 9 will be conducted live online via Zoom, and individual mentoring will be conducted both online and offline one-on-one.

The training institution is Media Jamong, a professional MCN (Multi Channel Network) business company, and customized mentoring from a pool of instructors will be provided according to the preferences of the trainees.

Youth aged 39 or younger residing in Seoul who are willing to work or start a business in the video industry or aspire to become professional creators can apply by submitting an online Google form by October 10. A total of 20 trainees will be selected, and the training is completely free of charge.

The district will announce successful candidates on October 13 after document screening, prioritizing Yeongdeungpo-gu residents or graduates of Yeongdeungpo-gu education programs during selection.

For inquiries about the training, contact the Social Economy Division or Media Jamong Education Project Team for detailed guidance.

A district official said, “We hope this course will be an opportunity for young people to create their own differentiated content and grow into competitive creators,” and added, “We will continue to promote projects that provide practical help to youth to discover and nurture media talents.”