Gangdong-gu to Invest 8 Billion Won This Year to Support Low-Income Residents' Self-Sufficiency

Establishing a Foundation for Low-Income Residents' Self-Sufficiency through Job Linkage and Education
Adding New Project Teams for Self-Support Work Job Linkage and Expanding Regional Self-Support Centers

Participants in the Toy Repair Project Team

Gangdong-gu (District Mayor Lee Soo-hee) announced on the 14th that it will invest a total budget of 8 billion KRW this year to support self-sufficiency and independence for low-income residents by promoting various self-support projects, including job support.

Gangdong-gu operates various self-support projects such as the ▲Self-Support Work Project, which provides jobs for low-income residents with working ability, ▲Support for starting self-support enterprises, and ▲Asset Formation Support Project that encourages continuous work through asset building.

The district runs self-support work projects directly managed by the district, such as environmental maintenance projects at community service centers, and also has a consignment contract with the Seoul Gangdong Regional Self-Support Center (hereafter Self-Support Center) to connect jobs (in industries such as bakeries and convenience stores) to the center’s project teams and self-support enterprises.

This year, the Self-Support Center plans to connect jobs to 13 project teams and 3 self-support enterprises. Following the newly launched ▲Toy Repair Project Team and ▲Gangdong Hope Narumi in January, the center will add the ▲Infant Product Cleaning Project Team scheduled to be launched in December, providing broader employment opportunities than last year. Notably, Gangdong Hope Narumi, the third self-support enterprise in Gangdong-gu, is significant as it was established based on the know-how accumulated by existing self-support work participants working in project teams, leading to this startup.

Meanwhile, before connecting jobs through the self-support work project, the Seoul Gangdong Regional Self-Support Center operates basic education (Gateway Education) for participants. This education, which runs for up to three months, aims to help participants establish proper independence plans and find jobs suited to their personal circumstances and capabilities. Currently located in Cheonho-dong, the Self-Support Center plans to relocate and expand in November this year to a cultural welfare facility within the Dunchon Jugong Apartment reconstruction complex (Olympic Park Foreon), providing better educational environments for self-support work participants.

Additionally, the district and the Self-Support Center promote asset formation support projects to help self-support work participants maintain their motivation to work until they become independent. Participants who join asset formation support accounts such as the Youth Tomorrow Savings Account can receive government subsidies based on their own savings and support conditions, enabling them to accumulate a lump sum for independence.

Lee Soo-hee, Mayor of Gangdong-gu, said, “We will strive to discover various jobs reflecting employment and startup prospects and the needs of self-support participants,” adding, “We will spare no effort to support low-income residents in vulnerable situations to become stably independent.”

For more detailed information regarding self-support projects, inquiries can be made to the Gangdong-gu Office Life Security Division or the Seoul Gangdong Regional Self-Support Center.