Isolated Youth Recover Daily Life, People with Disabilities Enjoy Comfortable Hair Care
Virtual Company Experience and Cultural Programs for Isolated Youth...
Supporting Recovery Through Self-Discovery and Growth
Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Jun-hee) has achieved success with two projects selected in Seoul's 'Support Project for Autonomous Districts Accompanying the Vulnerable' contest.
The 'Support Project for Autonomous Districts Accompanying the Vulnerable' is a project led by Seoul City to discover support projects for vulnerable groups tailored to regional characteristics and to eliminate welfare blind spots.
In this contest targeting 25 autonomous districts of Seoul, a total of 33 projects were finally selected, including 22 new tasks and 11 designated tasks.
The district secured project funds of 60 million KRW and 20 million KRW respectively as the projects 'Virtual Company Experience for Isolated and Reclusive Youth (Digging Club)' and 'Operation of Disability-Friendly Hair Salons' were selected as designated tasks.
The Virtual Company Experience project supports isolated and reclusive youth to recover to a healthy daily life through self-exploration and inner growth by experiencing job roles and cultural and artistic activities in a virtual space.
'Virtual Company Digging Club' allows participants to establish a company themselves on a metaverse platform and work in their respective departments, learning knowledge and skills necessary for real social life. In the 'Digging Club Lounge' using an online meeting platform, a 'self-discovery program based on art psychology' is conducted through regular weekly meetings.
Offline meetings are also supported for those who wish, providing opportunities to experience cultural and artistic performances and connect with employment programs. Additionally, the district plans to strengthen follow-up management by conducting regular check-ins and various mentoring programs to prevent youth from becoming re-isolated after participating in the project.
The 'Disability-Friendly Hair Salon' aims to improve accessibility and convenience of beauty services for people with disabilities who face difficulties even in the ordinary act of hair grooming.
The district will identify one hair salon in each of the five residential zones and designate them as disability-friendly hair salons by installing facilities for the convenience of disabled mobility such as ▲entrance ramps ▲automatic doors ▲safety bars. It will also support necessary items and services according to the type of disability to meet the demand for hair salon use by people with disabilities.
In particular, for severely disabled persons with mobility difficulties who wish to visit hair salons, the district plans to activate disability-friendly hair salons with a distinctive business strategy unique to Gwanak-gu by linking the 'Mobile Volunteer Vehicle Service' operated by the district.
Mayor Park Jun-hee said, "The two projects selected in this contest will be further specialized through consulting by the on-site evaluation team and will be tailored to the actual needs of vulnerable groups," adding, "We will continue to discover customized welfare policies and do our best to create a Gwanak-gu where socially vulnerable people are not marginalized and grow together."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
