Nowon-gu Selected as an Excellent Autonomous District for Seoul City Medication Companion Program

The district receives high praise for supporting isolated and reclusive youth
Helping youth restore daily life and reintegrate into the community
through virtual company work experience and “Loose Work Experience”

Nowon-gu (Mayor Oh Seung-rok) announced that it has been selected as an “Excellent Autonomous District for Seoul City’s Yakja Donghaeng (Walking Together with the Vulnerable)” in recognition of the achievements of its customized support project for reclusive youth, “Loose Company.”

The Yakja Donghaeng autonomous district support project is designed to discover customized projects tailored to the conditions and situations of vulnerable groups in the region and to spread excellent projects. On the 10th, an awards ceremony was held selecting six outstanding projects that showed remarkable results last year in the welfare blind spots.

Including Nowon-gu, a total of six autonomous districts?Mapo, Yangcheon, Dongdaemun, Songpa, and Seongdong?were selected as excellent autonomous districts, and Nowon-gu’s “Loose Company” project received high praise in the field of support for isolated and reclusive youth.

Started in 2022, the “Loose Company” project is a program designed to help isolated and reclusive youth recover their daily lives and reintegrate into the local community. Unlike a typical company, it helps participants experience working life in a virtual company operated in a non-face-to-face format using the Discord program.

While setting individual commuting times to encourage a regular lifestyle, it also provides unique non-face-to-face programs such as ▲weekly meetings to share daily life and ▲department meetings chosen according to hobbies, guiding youth in isolation to gradually restore social relationships and gain confidence.

The scope of youth social participation activities is expanded offline by collaborating with about 10 workplaces in the region, supporting “Loose Work Experience.” This program promotes communication among participants through one-on-one coaching, interview preparation, and “work parties,” reducing the burden of forming social relationships.

In particular, the “Euneun Kit” produced during the Loose Work Experience process symbolizes an important turning point where youth who completed the project regain confidence and establish their identity as “supportive youth” contributing to the local community.

From the stage of selecting the components of the Euneun Kit, youth plan through meetings and experience work at local workshops and bookstores, delivering product packages they made themselves to encourage other reclusive youth who have not yet reintegrated into society.

A district official who participated in the awards ceremony said, “It has been a year of much deliberation and discussion between the Nowon Youth Life Center and Nowon-gu to support isolated and reclusive youth,” adding, “We received feedback such as ‘I gained the strength to change myself’ and ‘I realized I can do something,’ which made us feel rewarded growing together with the youth. We will continue to strive to be a small help for youth to move forward into society.”

Oh Seung-rok, Mayor of Nowon-gu, said, “It is very important to solve youth isolation and help them actively participate in society,” and added, “We will continue to support more youth returning to society and starting new lives through customized projects like ‘Loose Company’ without hesitation.”

Nowon-gu Self-Support Enterprises Donate Warm Winter Fund to Hope Ondol

Self-Support Enterprises 'Jeongdam Green Environment' and 'Malgeunnarae' Donate Warm Winter Fund to Hope Ondol

Nowon-gu (Mayor Oh Seung-rok) announced that it received donations for helping neighbors in need from self-support enterprises 'Jeongdam Green Environment' and 'Malgeunnarae,' which practice warm sharing for those less fortunate.

'Jeongdam Green Environment' and 'Malgeunnarae' are representative success cases of self-support labor projects that provide work opportunities to low-income vulnerable groups to help them achieve economic independence. The representatives or workers participate in the self-support labor project as low-income vulnerable individuals, gain practical experience, and jointly establish self-support enterprises to realize economic independence.

After completing professional training and based on years of experience, they have solidified their position as self-support enterprises, operating continuously for over seven years and being recognized as exemplary cases contributing to the local community. Having succeeded in becoming independent through the self-support labor project, they continuously practice sharing to give back to the community.

Jeongdam Green Environment’s co-representatives Park Bok-ryeon and Lee Jang-hee, and Malgeunnarae’s representative Shin Gwang-seung have been steadily donating since the COVID-19 period in 2020, and this year donated 500,000 KRW each, totaling 1 million KRW.

Park Bok-ryeon, Lee Jang-hee of Jeongdam Green Environment, and Shin Gwang-seung of Malgeunnarae said, “Despite the difficult economic situation, we have come together to support the vulnerable neighbors in Nowon-gu,” adding, “We will continue to participate in sharing for the marginalized in Nowon-gu to give back the help we received from the community.”

Currently, Nowon-gu operates three centers: Seoul Nowon Regional Self-Support Center, Seoul Nowon Northern Regional Self-Support Center, and Seoul Nowon Southern Regional Self-Support Center. Through these, a total of 43 self-support labor project groups and 13 self-support enterprises are active.

Oh Seung-rok, Mayor of Nowon-gu, said, “We thank you for continuously practicing sharing in the community beyond economic independence,” and added, “Through the sharing and positive influence of Jeongdam Green Environment and Malgeunnarae, we hope more people gain opportunities for independence and a culture of coexistence with the community is established.”

Oh Seung-rok, Mayor of Nowon-gu, Signs Business Agreement for ‘Happy Two Meals Project’

On the 10th, Oh Seung-rok, Mayor of Nowon-gu, signed a business agreement with Happy Narae Co., Ltd. and Happy Dosirak to operate the ‘Nowon-gu Happy Two Meals Project.’

The project aims to provide stable meals to children at risk of food insecurity who are in the blind spots of meal support. It includes providing side dishes to up to 40 children, including those who need additional support among existing meal support recipients and newly identified children at risk of food insecurity, for a period of 6 to 12 months.

The support method involves delivering side dishes (four types of banchan) worth about 8,000 KRW per meal, once or twice a week, for five days at a time, directly to the children’s homes.

The district plans to survey children at risk of food insecurity who need additional support due to sudden economic crises or lack of care and select them as project beneficiaries.

The signing ceremony was attended by Oh Seung-rok, Mayor of Nowon-gu; Cho Min-young, Head of Happy Narae; and Choi Jun, Secretary-General of Happy Dosirak Social Cooperative, among other officials, who signed the agreement and took commemorative photos.

Oh Seung-rok, Mayor of Nowon-gu, said, “Through this agreement, I hope children at risk of food insecurity can receive nutritious meals stably,” adding, “We will continue to carefully monitor children in welfare blind spots and expand practical support measures.”