Gwanak-gu, led by District Mayor Park Jun-hee, secured a total of 344 billion won ($231 million) in external funding over the four years of the eighth elected-term administration, while earning 219 awards from domestic and international institutional evaluations, capping the term on a strong note.
Throughout the term, the district tapped competitive grant programs, special subsidy allocations and other central government and Seoul Metropolitan Government funding streams, channeling the resources into key projects with a direct impact on residents' daily lives.
To improve the everyday living environment, the district directed 23.4 billion won toward a shared parking support project, 5.2 billion won toward expanding intelligent CCTV coverage and 4.1 billion won toward installing a smart road heating system — laying the groundwork for a safer and more convenient urban infrastructure.
In employment, welfare and youth support, the district ran a range of initiatives: 20.5 billion won went to a job-creation partnership program and 1.9 billion won to a youth challenge support project, together generating quality employment, strengthening the welfare safety net for vulnerable residents and actively backing young people's independence and ambitions.
The district also pursued competitive grants to energize local commerce, securing 2.6 billion won for a local brand commercial district development project and 2.4 billion won for a traditional market modernization support project. It further advanced 1.4 billion won in smart village deployment and expansion and 600 million won in an AI innovation technology discovery project, building an AI- and data-driven smart administration framework and raising the district's competitiveness as a future-ready city.
The policies carried out during the term drew strong recognition from authoritative domestic and international evaluators. The district achieved 219 external awards in total — including the highest rating in the government joint evaluation for four consecutive years, the only district in Seoul to do so, and the inaugural designation as a youth-friendly city.
Looking ahead to the ninth elected term, the district plans to proactively respond to shifting government policies and fiscal conditions, making an all-out effort to secure diverse external funding sources including special subsidy allocations. The goal is to build a stable foundation for advancing core campaign pledges and high-impact resident projects while continuously expanding external revenue.
The district intends to identify competitive national and city grant projects aligned with its campaign pledges, guided by strategic prioritization that accounts for overall fiscal conditions. It will also seek out everyday-life-focused grant projects where residents can feel tangible change, get ahead of external evaluations and build a strategic funding framework through employee capacity-building programs.
"The 344 billion won in external funding secured during the eighth term is the fruit of every staff member's collective effort to keep our promises to residents despite difficult fiscal conditions," District Mayor Park said. "In the ninth term as well, we will build a greater and more livable Gwanak through strategic external funding."
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