US star Usher to mentor London youth

US star Usher has pledged to bring his pioneering youth charity to London to help tackle knife crime.

Between his O2 show dates the singer met teenagers at Fulmar’s Brunswick Club for Young People to discuss the problems they face.

The Evening Standard has reported that the singer now hopes to establish a permanent London base for his New Look Foundation to mentor teenagers from impoverished areas.

They reported that Usher has brought three of his New Look mentors - once-troubled youngsters who came through his programme and now help others - to the charity club on Saturday for a workshop which included team-building sessions and motivational talks.

Usher told the paper; "This is one of many workshops I hope to hold and an opportunity to introduce the kids here to our programme. We spoke about teenage pregnancy, gang violence, incarceration, isolation - and one very specific thing was knife crime. It's something the kids kept bringing up and obviously it's a huge issue here.

"The programme is about finding the root of the issue and addressing that, and hopefully motivating change. We would love to set up a permanent presence here in London. I really hope London is receptive, as this really does work. I think that us giving youth the responsibility and the chance to have a voice makes a difference."

Recent figures show that knife crime is still rising around the UK.

WG.