Every district has residence associations but a lot of foreigners almost never know where to find information on them in our districts. On October 31st, 2023, the Seongbuk-gu Resident Association Council held aneventin front of the Seongbuk-gu District Office to introduce their many programs.
When I arrived at the program, everyone was surrounding Jeongneung 1-dong’s booth. They were winning our hearts with a cotton candy machine powered by man-power. People stood on the long line to exercise on the bike and produce one of the best cotton candies I have ever tried in my life (probably because I had to exercise for it).
Seongbuk-gu districts has 20 administrative neighborhoods: Anam-dong, Bomun-dong, Donam-dong(1~2), Dongseon-dong, Gireum-dong(1~2), Jangwi-dong(1~3), Jeongnueng-dong(1~4), Jongam-dong, Samseon-dong, Seokgwan-dong, Seongbuk-dong, Wolgok-dong(1~2).
It was interesting to watch how the different neighborhoods created different activities for the residents of the district. Some of the events were cultural (Jangwi 3-dong), some catered to the MZ generation using AI (Wolgok 1-dong) and some had events that transcended ages like crafts.
However, some of the best practices included a blood donation project led by Jongam-dong residents and a toy recycling project by Gileum 2-dong residents. The event was under the theme “행복하게! 성북의 주민자치!’ meaning “Together! Happily! Seongbuk’s Resident Association!”. Since 2018, the resident association council has expanded and now has more than 1,000 members of the residents’ council in all 20 dongs, solving local problems and spreading the value of resident association. This event was an opportunity for visitors to experience the process as well as the excellent activities the Seongbuk-gu resident association offered.
The grand prize was given to Jeongneung 3-dong for their “Time Bank” A program run by Kookmin University students which saves the amount of volunteer time and uses it for help in other instances. Curious? If you like me and want to learn more about this activity or about more resident activities in my neighborhood, explore the Seongbuk-gu District Office website
https://www.sb.go.kr/dongoffice/program/program.do
In addition to the resident council, there were other Seongbuk-gu organizations(Seongbuk Healthy Family Support Center, Seongbuk Community Social Economy Center) that are located in Seongbuk-gu that came to display their activities. Definitely a successful day learning about what the district provides to us the residents.
[글/사진 성북마을기자단 티티]