[Special Report] County Governor Jeon Jin-seon Designs 'Yangpyeong's Future Created Together with Youth'

[News S=Reporter Eom In-yong] With the launch of the 9th civilian-elected administration, Yangpyeong County is making full-fledged efforts to create an 'attractive youth-friendly city' where young people want to settle.

Currently, the youth (ages 20-39) population ratio in Yangpyeong County is 15.89%, which is lower compared to nearby local governments, while the elderly population aged 65 and older accounts for 31.8%. The county plans to proactively respond to this challenge of capital concentration and youth population outflow, and provide comprehensive support so that young people can establish themselves as core growth drivers of the local community.

In particular, County Governor Jeon Jin-seon, who successfully won re-election, took a bold step by converting his inauguration budget to youth support. From his first day in office, he directly visited young farmer households and youth startup sites to listen to voices from the field, presenting a continuous direction for the 9th civilian-elected administration's youth policies under the theme 'Yangpyeong's Future Created Together with Youth.'

■ Cultivating young farmers as core subjects of regional agriculture

The county will cultivate young farmers as core subjects of regional agriculture by leveraging the area's blessed natural environment. Taking advantage of Yangpyeong's reputation as an optimal location for returning to farming and rural communities, the county plans to support the influx of young farmers through comprehensive package support encompassing farmland, education, funds, and housing.

For youth with insufficient initial capital, the county operates various youth agriculture policies including youth farmer farming settlement support funds (monthly 900,000-1.1 million won), youth farmer residential welfare programs (up to 250,000 won monthly rent), successor farmer development funds, and programs supporting agricultural startup and housing purchase for returning farmers. Additionally, it will activate the 'field support team,' a field coaching service, and implement new farming settlement support for 4-H club members among young farmers to ensure substance.

Starting this year, the county will implement an intergenerational connection policy linking current and future agriculture by connecting elderly farmers and young farmers within the region. The county plans to conduct customized matching considering farmland and agricultural machinery rentals, preferred locations, and preferred agricultural products, thereby establishing sustainable agricultural infrastructure through farm technology transfer and succession of existing agricultural facilities. Furthermore, the county will strengthen production bases and distribution networks for regional specialty crops such as Chinese chives, leafy greens, and watermelons, and hold quarterly meetings with young farmers to continuously reflect challenges in policy projects.

■ Supporting stable settlement with focus on 'jobs' and 'residential environment improvement'

The county is accelerating efforts to improve job opportunities and residential environments to support stable settlement of young people. In the job sector, the county focuses on fostering young entrepreneurs. It provides support throughout the entire startup process, from business planning to marketing and tax/accounting through 1:1 customized job/startup consulting and tailored startup education, while planning to substantially reduce economic burden through a youth entrepreneur rent support program. The county will operate 'Dream,' a free formal interview suit rental service for job-seeking youth, and provide opportunities to run 'youth booths' linked with regional festivals to support sales expansion and establishment of self-reliance within the community.

In the residential and asset formation sector, the county will implement youth monthly rent support programs (up to 200,000 won per month), separate housing allowance payments for youth, and interest support for youth newlywed housing loans (up to 2 million won annually) to alleviate housing cost burdens. Additionally, to support self-reliance of working youth, the county operates the 'Double Dream Youth Savings Account,' where the county provides 1:1 matching savings contributions.

Furthermore, using regional youth spaces such as 'Tomorrow Square' in Yangpyeong-eup, 'Oreum' in Yongmun-myeon, and 'Ddanddan Hall' in Yangseo-myeon as hubs, the county plans to expand community activation and self-development support to create a vibrant living infrastructure.

■ Strengthening institutional foundation for youth policies with direct policy design and evaluation

The greatest distinguishing feature of Yangpyeong County's youth policies is 'youth leadership.' The county continues to strengthen the institutional foundation so that young people can move beyond being policy recipients and position themselves as subjects who directly design and evaluate policies.

The county is expanding activities of the 'Youth Policy Committee' and reflecting real voices from the field into policies through 'Youth Policy Supporters.' Moreover, through the KakaoTalk channel 'Yangpyeong Youth Talk Talk,' the county is enhancing accessibility to policy information, and moving away from administration-led unidirectional information delivery systems to establish Yangpyeong-style governance where the county governor and youth directly put their heads together to address concerns by regularizing forums for dialogue such as 'Youth Communication Forum.'

The county expects these efforts to not only support stable settlement of youth but also expand collaborative community culture between local residents and young people, creating a virtuous cycle where 'a city good for youth becomes a good city for everyone.' With youth happiness and mutual growth as top priorities, the county plans to continue discovering effective policies and complete the creation of an attractive youth-friendly city of Yangpyeong where people stay, work, and connect their futures.

County Governor Jeon Jin-seon stated, “Youth are our precious future and core driving force in Yangpyeong,” and emphasized, “Going beyond simple welfare benefits, I will actively support youth so they can feel pride and freely pursue their dreams.”

Governor Jeon continued, “The reason young people stay in the region and the reason they return ultimately stems from job opportunities,” adding, “By creating an environment and infrastructure where people can work with peace of mind, I will actively support young people to go beyond simple welfare benefits and feel pride while freely pursuing their dreams.”