Building a Comprehensive Public-Private Welfare Network
Yongsan-gu in Seoul (Mayor Park Heeyoung) is launching the "Smart Welfare" initiative to proactively identify unregistered persons with disabilities and those excluded from welfare services within the community, aiming to address welfare blind spots through comprehensive support.
The "Welfare Stepping Stone Connection Survey Team" is operating a visiting Smart Welfare Counseling Center at Seobinggo-dong Community Service Center. Provided by Yongsan-gu.
The district has decided to build a customized welfare system in collaboration with the Yongsan District Welfare Center for the Disabled, to identify unregistered persons with disabilities and those not utilizing welfare services, and to connect them with necessary services.
The core of this project is the "Welfare Stepping Stone Connection Survey Team," which consists of five members, both with and without disabilities. This team travels to key locations throughout Yongsan-gu to identify households with persons with disabilities and supports the entire process?from face-to-face counseling and information provision to service registration?in cooperation with welfare centers, community service centers, local organizations, and medical institutions.
In particular, the project is notable for moving away from the previous reporting- or complaint-based approach and implementing a "person-centered welfare system" in which local residents themselves identify and connect neighbors in need. The main components of the "Smart Welfare" initiative include accompanying counseling support for unregistered persons with disabilities, guidance on welfare services and self-reliance capacity-building education for newly registered persons with disabilities, operation of a visiting counseling center, advocacy for the rights of persons with disabilities, and emergency support.
Additionally, the district plans to more actively identify persons with disabilities with low access to welfare by sending out welfare service information and expanding the operation of visiting counseling centers, thereby promoting their entry into the welfare system.
Park Heeyoung, Mayor of Yongsan-gu, stated, "This project will be an important turning point in improving welfare accessibility for unregistered persons with disabilities and expanding the safety net for persons with disabilities within the community," adding, "We will continue to pay close attention and make efforts to eliminate welfare blind spots."
Meanwhile, if you know a neighbor with a disability who needs assistance, you can contact the Yongsan District Welfare Center for the Disabled at 02-707-1970.
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