Nowon-gu Establishes Safety Net for Youth at Risk of Food Insecurity During School Breaks

Nowon-gu Establishes a Comprehensive Safety Net for Youth at Risk of Food Insecurity During School Vacations

Youth Safety Net Supports Food-Insecure Youth with Meal Kit Project ‘Joahana Bap’... Support Decided for 60 Children and 3 Group Homes This Year

Meal Kits Designed to Suit Children’s Tastes to Prevent Skipping Meals... Includes Instant Rice, Curry, Tuna, Cereal, etc.

Face-to-Face Delivery Principle... Aims to Strengthen Social and Emotional Support through Counseling and Life Management

Nowon-gu (Mayor Oh Seung-rok) announced that it will promote a meal kit support project to ensure healthy eating habits for youth in welfare blind spots during the summer vacation.

The initiative aims to build a dense safety net for youth at risk of food insecurity during the vacation and to strengthen social and emotional support systems.

The meal kit support project, ‘Joahana Bap,’ has been implemented by the district since last summer vacation. The Nowon-gu Youth Safety Net Integrated Support Center takes the lead in identifying youth in welfare blind spots and sending meal packages. During last summer vacation, meals were provided to a total of 44 children and 3 group homes (family-like systems where one caregiver lives with 4-5 children under family protection).

This summer vacation, the public (Youth Counseling and Welfare Center), district (Nowon-gu), and police (Nowon Police Station) will collaborate closely to provide thorough welfare support. First, recipients were identified through a preliminary survey. In particular, to align with the project’s purpose, the focus was on youth who are not necessarily from vulnerable groups but do not live with their parents, are left unattended due to parents working late, or are single-person households, concentrating on case management.

This year, support has been decided for a total of 60 youth identified this way and for three local group homes: Gaonnarae, Teva, and Hanine.

The meal kits are composed with the children’s tastes as the top priority to prevent skipping meals. Individual packages include instant rice, curry, tuna, cereal, beverages, and more, while group homes receive package boxes containing instant rice/rice bowls, ramen, seaweed flakes, snacks, beverages, and other items.

Meal packages are delivered face-to-face as a principle. Four case managers stationed at the Nowon-gu Youth Safety Net Integrated Support Center personally visit the children’s homes to deliver the packages. During this process, they conduct counseling about recent conditions and concerns and assist with life management.

Since 2019, the district has been promoting the ‘Youth Safety Net Leading Project’ to enhance the public nature and social responsibility of the crisis youth protection system. In November 2020, a business agreement was signed among the public (Youth Counseling and Welfare Center), district, and police to establish a one-stop integrated support service for crisis youth. In January 2021, the district opened the nation’s first district-run ‘Youth Safety Net Integrated Support Center.’

The center is staffed full-time by five district office employees, one SPO police officer from Nowon Police Station, and four employees from the Youth Counseling and Welfare Center, enabling rapid information sharing and customized youth-centered support and integrated case management. In May, Nowon-gu was the only local government nationwide to receive the Presidential Citation at the ‘2023 Youth Development and Protection Merit Government Awards’ hosted by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in recognition of its achievements.

Mayor Oh Seung-rok said, “We prepared meal packages for children at risk of food insecurity to strengthen the youth welfare network even during vacations. Going forward, the public, district, and police will actively respond together to ensure that all youth can grow up safely and healthily.”