Gyeonggi Province Selects 5 Cities Including Hwaseong for Community Hub Project

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hoon] Gyeonggi Province announced on the 17th that it has selected five locations—Hwaseong, Ansan, Uijeongbu, Anseong, and Yeoju—following a recruitment process for city and county community hub space projects aimed at revitalizing community activities.

This "Community Hub Support Project by City and County" involves the province providing facility construction costs of up to 100 million won per location (including asset acquisition) in provincial funds to create comfortable communication spaces for community activists.

By city and county, Hwaseong plans to strengthen solidarity and form networks among communities in areas where cohesion has weakened due to rapid population growth by utilizing the hub space. Ansan plans to utilize an insect experience center within Wadong Citizens Park as an open space to revitalize the local atmosphere depressed by COVID-19.

Uijeongbu will form an operations committee for the hub space to conduct autonomous shared space operations and specialized hub space projects. Anseong emphasizes building citizen governance, while Yeoju emphasizes field-oriented support through deployment of community leaders.

Based on this provincial subsidy, the selected cities and counties will be responsible for providing operational funding and discovering projects and providing education to support the growth and self-sufficiency of communities.

The province expects that expansion of such "open spaces" as community hubs will enable the establishment of sustainable community activity foundations through strengthened city and county roles for residents' harmony.

Kim Young-chul, Director of Communication and Cooperation at Gyeonggi Province, said, "Through community hub support by city and county, we will actively provide administrative support so that community activists can exercise positive influence in their regions," and added, "We hope that diverse community activities led by residents will expand."

Meanwhile, under the "Community Hub Support Project by City and County," the community hub spaces supported by Gyeonggi Province total 10 locations, including five from last year—Goyang, Hwaseong, Ansan, Icheon, and Uiwang—and five from this year.

The hub spaces selected last year are being utilized for various purposes including community and resident workshops, community broadcasting, and shared kitchens.