Suwon Supports Stable Settlement of Multicultural Families

[Suwon Ilbo = Reporter Seo Dong-young] Suwon City will implement various projects this year to help multicultural families settle stably, including customized education for multicultural families and foreign residents, as well as career and academic advancement services for youth from immigrant backgrounds.

First, the city will conduct a comprehensive survey on 'Living regulations that foreign residents must know.' Following the survey, from March to April, the city plans to produce and distribute guidebooks containing living regulations in various fields including automobiles, taxation, sanitation, and real estate for use by foreign residents. The guidebooks will be distributed to city, district, and dong offices as well as 15 organizations related to foreign residents.

Educational programs for multicultural families and other foreign residents will continue. Korean language education for foreign workers and foreign women will be offered twice in the first and second half of the year, and home-visit education programs will also be conducted for married immigrant women and children of multicultural families. Home-visit education will include diverse services such as Korean language services, parenting education services, and children's life services.

Career and academic guidance services will also be provided for youth from immigrant backgrounds. Programs include 'Rainbow Job-a-ra,' which provides career guidance and vocational experience opportunities for youth; 'Catch My Job,' which offers bakery theory and practical training; and 'Barista Certificate Program,' which helps acquire barista certifications.

The city will also operate the 'Multi-Harmony Community Joint Project,' which supports project funding for corporations and organizations that plan and apply for excellent projects and programs for foreign residents, as well as 'Free Medical Treatment (Internal Medicine, Surgery, Dentistry, etc.) and Beauty Services,' and 'Reading Mentoring for Children of Multicultural Families.'

To implement these initiatives, the city held the '2020 Multicultural Organizations Communication Meeting' on the 14th at the City Hall conference room, where measures to efficiently promote multicultural policies were discussed.

The meeting was attended by representatives from seven multicultural-related organizations including city government officials, Suwon Immigration Office, Suwon Foreign Residents Welfare Center, Suwon Multicultural Family Support Center, and Suwon Global Youth Dream Center.

A city official said, "We will carefully push forward with support projects to revitalize the social participation of multicultural families and foreign residents," adding "We will continue to help them participate as members of the local community."

Currently, the number of foreign residents in Suwon is approximately 69,000.