[On Site, This Person] Kim Jin, '7979 Team Leader' of Gwangju Nam-gu

"Building a Top Welfare Safety Net with 7979 Center"
24-Year Veteran Social Welfare Public Official
Providing Customized Services to Vulnerable Groups
"Discovering Professional Volunteers... Expanding Promotional Activities"

Jin Kim (48), Team Leader of Team 7979, Namgu, Gwangju.

"We will directly check even the smallest needs of vulnerable groups in the community on-site and provide customized volunteer services."

This is the vision of Kim Jin (48), a veteran social welfare public official with 24 years of experience and the head of the "7979 Team" in Nam-gu, Gwangju. Since 2000, Team Leader Kim has worked in various departments at Nam-gu Office, including the Welfare Project Division, Hope Welfare Division, Women and Family Division, and Resident Life Support Division, earning a reputation as a social welfare expert.

Recently, Nam-gu's "Happy Welfare 7979 Center Project" was recognized as an outstanding policy at the "2024 Town and Township Welfare and Safety Service Improvement Best Practices Contest" hosted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, gaining recognition as a top welfare project among local governments nationwide.

As a member of the 7979 Team in the Welfare Policy Division for over two years, Team Leader Kim oversaw the overall operations, including identifying vulnerable groups, customized case management, identifying problems, and suggesting improvements, contributing significantly to the selection as an outstanding policy.

The 7979 Center, which opened in June 2019, provides customized welfare services to vulnerable groups. The center operates a welfare call center that connects and supports counseling services, the 7979 Volunteer Group that handles minor daily inconveniences, the Bokjumeoni service that provides various welfare information, and the Nam-gu 7979 Center KakaoTalk channel. Among these, the welfare call center and the 7979 Volunteer Group were first established and operated in Nam-gu, Gwangju, among local governments in Gwangju and Jeonnam.

Team Leader Kim's relationship with the 7979 Center dates back to 2021. Assigned as a field worker at the center at that time, he directly met with vulnerable groups for over a year and promoted customized welfare projects such as the "3in1 Project" and side dish and housekeeping support. The "3in1" project provides solutions for daily inconveniences (7979 Center), customized case management (neighborhood customized welfare), and health management (visiting nurses) simultaneously.

Team Leader Kim recalled, "Whenever I went out to provide field support, the elderly who received help would take out drinks they had saved in their refrigerators and hold my hand tightly," adding, "I believe the reason the 7979 Center must continue to exist is that we can listen to their small worries and provide help."

Currently, satisfaction with the activities of the 7979 Volunteer Group is high, and the number of voluntary participants is steadily increasing. In 2022, 1,086 people were awarded appointments as members of the volunteer group. The group is organized in each of the 17 neighborhoods to address minor daily inconveniences in the homes of vulnerable groups.

They replace electrical items such as lights, outlets, and switches, install safety items like grab bars, gas timers, and anti-slip mats, and provide small daily necessities such as faucets, window screens, and toilet parts.

The volunteer group is divided into professional and general volunteers. Professional volunteers are those with licenses in beauty, home repair, electricity, plumbing, and boiler repair, while general volunteers, even without licenses, assist professional volunteers with tasks such as home environment improvement.

This year, a specialized volunteer group called "Chilgu Hair," consisting of 11 hairdressers with beauty licenses, was designated to provide beauty services.

Returning to the 7979 Team in July this year, Team Leader Kim plans to discover more hidden professional volunteers throughout the region starting next year and operate an "Interpol" system to enable immediate on-site support at any time.

Team Leader Kim explained, "The 7979 Center has made a significant contribution to improving the quality of life by visiting the homes of elderly people living alone who have endured even minor inconveniences and providing services tailored to their situations. For this reason, we conduct satisfaction surveys every year to analyze results, identify problems, and set future directions. Since the first year, over 94% of users have expressed high satisfaction."

Meanwhile, Team Leader Kim stated, "We will continue to actively utilize human and material resources to strengthen access to welfare information and field-centered welfare services, continuously building a customized welfare safety net. We will actively discover professional volunteers and reduce welfare blind spots through various promotional activities."