Monday 21 February 2011

Usher aims to crack down on knife crime in London


US R&B artist Usher Raymond, has promised to bring his youth charity to London to help combat knife crime. During his recent trip to the UK selling out on tour at the O2 arena, Usher humbly found time to meet a group of 30 teenagers at Fulham's Brunswick Club for Young People to discuss the problems youngsters face in London. He aims to set up a London based branch for his New Look Foundation to mentor teenagers from deprived, poverty-stricken areas. The 32 year old superstar brought 3 of his mentors from the foundation to the charity club last Saturday for a workshop of team building exercises and motivational discussions.

'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,' he recently commented.

Statistics last month, show that knife crime in London has increased by 8% year on year. Police have also pledged to crack down on gangland youth violence, whilst discovering a rise in individuals carrying knives during stop-and-search operations against gangs.

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