Han Chae-yeon, a sociology student at Ajou University, was awarded the Suwon City Government Development Meritorious Citizen Commendation for her contribution to the development of the local community, culture, and tourism of Suwon City. The commendation is awarded to citizens who have contributed to the city government's advancement in various fields over the years of the 5^th-7^th mayoral terms (July 1, 2010 – June 2020).[KHTC1]

Han (photo right) served as the first term Suwon Culture & Tourism Youth Ambassador [KHTC2]hosted by Ajou University’s Regional Cooperation Center (RCC) Hope and Nest Cooperative Federation from August to November 2020. The Youth Ambassador is a promotional position for local youths to identify and promote Suwon’s unique historical, cultural, and tourism resources to vitalize culture and tourism in Suwon and improve the city’s brand.

Han was the leader of a team of seven ambassadors that planned projects to vitalize tourism in Suwon and promoted the city’s tourist destinations and activities both online and off. The team posted more than 40 promotional items through online SNS channels and produced a video entitled, “Shall we Suwon?” [KHTC3]introducing the city’s diverse food culture and attractions targeting the “MZ generation” – millennials (born 1981–1995) and Generation Z (born 1996–2010).[KHTC4]

In addition, she actively participated in activities towards the development of the region, such as delivering a presentation on the direction of Suwon Special City at the Suwon Youth Autonomy and Decentralization On-tact Concert [KHTC5]as a youth participant [KHTC6]of the Suwon Autonomy and Decentralization Think-Tanks. [KHTC7]

“I uploaded so many SNS posts to promote the information I’d learned while working as a tourist guide, which was effectively delivered to a large number of people through a variety of search terms,” she said, adding, “It was a meaningful experience because so many hours were dedicated to thinking about how to make a video and card news (a news format combining ‘cards’ featuring both text and images) [KHTC8]content targeting the MZ generation as a way to effectively promote Suwon’s culture and tourism.”

The Regional Cooperation Center (RCC) was founded by Ajou University, in collaboration with several institutions and businesses in the region, as part of its LINC+ project in 2019. The RCC works to promote university-industry cooperation that can be directly relatable by the local community. Currently, it operates City Regeneration RCC (partner: Suwon Sustainable City Foundation), Smart Factory School RCC (partner: Korea SMEs and Startups Agency), SOS RCC (partner: Digital Empire II), and Social Economy RCC [KHTC9](partner: Hope and Nest Cooperative Federation).