USHER FIX

Usher Concert Ticket Giveaway for Youth Leaders!

Calling all youth ready to serve their community! From now until June 27th you have a chance to score free concert tickets to see Usher at Summerfest in Milwaukee on June 30th. That’s right! The New Look Foundation is giving away tickets and other great prizes to youth leaders.

All you have to do to qualify for tickets is plan and finish a service project between now and the concert and be between the ages of 12 and 25. There are three easy steps to enter this contest:

STEP 1. Plan a youth-led service project!
STEP 2. Do your project! Photograph or video your work. Include some mention/image of “Powered By Service.”
STEP 3. Post information about your project to our facebook fanpage, with photo/video & fill out a short survey. Now till June 27.

It can be anything!  You and a few friends can plan a book drive for this weekend. Get your dad involved and help out some neighbors on Father’s Day. Plan a day of sports and fitness for younger kids in your neighborhood to get some exercise.

The New Look Foundation and Usher recognize that youth are global leaders and have the power to change their community. To excite even more youth to get involved as leaders, New Look is happy to reward those with the most exciting and creative projects.

Source

In a global, grassroots initiative, music legend and humanitarian Usher Raymond IV is announcing a partnership with the United Nations Foundation to help the victims of the Haiti earthquake. Through Usher’s non-profit, Usher’s New Look, Usher is challenging young people worldwide to raise $5 to help the United Nations’ emergency response in Haiti.

Usher’s New Look and the UN Foundation teamed up because they know youth have the power to make a difference and can help the United Nations help Haiti. 

“If only 1% of the world’s youth population raised $5 each, we could raise $150 million to support the UN’s relief efforts,” said Usher. 

“The United Nations plays a key role in humanitarian response and coordination,” said Ted Turner, UN Foundation founder and chairman.  “The coming days are critical to saving lives.  Contributions big or small can have a huge impact.”  

Youth can raise funds and awareness through the ‘Powered By Service’ initiative, launched by Usher’s New Look. Young people can use their talents and creativity to raise dollars and cents from their peers and others to support emergency relief efforts in Haiti such as critical medical care.

Initial news reports indicate that one of Haiti’s biggest needs both now and in the long term is medical aid and support. Disaster relief that is ‘Powered By Service’ can unite young people around the world in a joint effort to assist their peers and families who need help. Usher’s charity, Usher’s New Look is partnering with global youth and international service organizations to give young people the opportunity to help Haiti.

“Disaster relief is an effort that can be ‘Powered By Service’ and young people can be key players in the effort,” continued Usher. “I’m challenging youth around the world to prove they have the power to have an impact on a humanitarian crisis.  I know that young people have the talent, creativity and energy to assist in supporting Haiti’s needs.” 

Once youth raise dollars they can send donations of $5 or more directly to the UN Foundation for the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) website or by check. Youth can also text CERF to 90999 to donate $5, up to five times. The Usher’s New Look website  http://www.ushersnewlook.org/ is also linking directly to the CERF donation page.

Young people can log on to Twitter and Facebook and share their fundraising activities and successes with pictures, videos and statements. The ‘Powered By Service’ Twitter page will be used to recognize and track efforts. For each dollar raised, youth are being encouraged to tweet their efforts @powerbyservice to demonstrate their commitment.

Usher’s New Look Foundation and the United Nations Foundation previously partnered through the United Nations Foundation’s Nothing But Nets campaign for malaria awareness. 

For information on fundraising for Haiti, please log ushersnewlook.org or poweredbyservice.org.  To view photos and video from UN Foundation staff in Haiti, visit www.unfoundation.org/haiti.

Visit to Philippines peace convention is their “first step in going global”

MANILA, Philippines – Grammy-award winning R&B singer Usher Raymond IV may be known to Filipinos as that artist with the velvet voice and smooth moves who famously gave a moving tribute at Michael Jackson’s funeral.

But there is more to Usher than just catchy party songs and ballads, according to Shawn Wilson, president of Usher’s New Look (UNL), a U.S.-based youth empowerment organization founded by Usher in 1999. (More information at www.ushersnewlook.org)

“Usher has been known as a global artist, but as we talked years ago, he wanted to do good from there. From his World Tour, he learned that the world is sick,” Wilson told Philippine reporters in an interview at the Manila Hotel on Thursday.

“So he wanted to mobilize the youth, bring youth together and pinpoint solutions because they haven’t been tainted by life. They can’t stand on the sidelines,” he added.

“We hope people in Manila see a different side of Usher in the way that he uses his celebrity for good,” Wilson said.

Since its founding, UNL has helped 3,500 youth develop their leadership and business skills under their 2-week Camp New Look program in Atlanta, Georgia.

The organization also launched its Powered by Service campaign, which offers financial support and skills training for American youth who want to initiate projects that will make positive change in their communities.

Learning experience in Philippines

UNL top executives are currently in the Philippines for the first-ever Global Peace Convention (GPC) at the Manila Hotel that was spearheaded by the Global Peace Service Alliance (GPSA).

The conference brings together over 500 delegates from 28 countries like Mongolia, the Philippines, Kenya, Korea, Nepal, Malaysia and the United States to discuss peacebuilding through interfaith dialogue, family, and service.

Delegates include world leaders in parliament and Congress, philanthropists, non-government organizations (NGOs) and youth leaders.

In the course of 4 days, delegates are expected to discuss and find solutions to a myriad of urgent peace issues like the conflict in Mindanao and in the rest of the globe.

Wilson said Usher, as a “hands-on guy when it comes to philanthropy”, sent a delegation to the GPC to find out what issues are facing the youth in the Philippines and how they could be empowered.

“This is the first step in going international. It’s getting on the ground and getting the true story of the issues confronting the youth. Knowing what their passions are. Also, partering with the right organizations [like the GPSA],” he said

These projects can be as simple as a high school quarterback hosting a fund-drive for Hurricane Katrina victims during his homecoming week or a young girl DJ-ing her own party to raise awareness for a national issue.

To read the whole article click here.

Source: Abs-cbnnews.com & Jonathan Mannion

Grammy Award Winner and Humanitarian Usher Raymond IV, announced today that his non-profit organization, Usher’s New Look, will take Powered By Service, an initiative from Usher’s New Look that encourages young people to utilize their talents and resources to make a difference in their community, to the Global Peace Convention in the Philippines from December 10-14, 2009. At the Clinton Global Initiative in September 2009, Usher’s New Look launched Powered by Service and a partnership with the United Nations Foundation to tackle critical issues facing the world including malaria prevention.

In the true spirit of service and activating grassroots leaders on a global level, Usher is sending a delegation to the Global Peace Convention — an extraordinary worldwide gathering of social entrepreneurs. Shawn H. Wilson, President of Usher’s New Look and James Harris, newly appointed youth member of the Board of Directors, will be present at the convention to launch Powered By Service on an international stage. Harris, 20, was inducted into the Board of Directors for his exemplary leadership as a young artist, community change agent and his commitment to personal academic and career success. As a former New Look camper, current Mogul In Training, member of the Youth Philanthropy and Advisory Board, and one of the first young people to execute a Powered By Service project, James has been engaged in every program Usher’s New Look offers.

“The Global Peace Convention is Powered By Service- it’s a gathering of like-minded people that are dedicated to tackling critical issues worldwide,” said Usher Raymond IV, Founder of Usher’s New Look.

The Global Peace Convention (GPC) is an annual gathering of peace builders from around the world. It began as a result of the excitement and positive impact of the Global Peace Festivals (GPF) held throughout since 2007. The Convention is an opportunity to exchange information and learn from the best practices to improve the quality of all peace-building projects. These include joint efforts made by Powered by Service and Global Peace Service Alliance (GPSA) to empower youth in hot spots like war-torn Mindanao and western Kenya. UNL and GPSA will team up to promote youth empowerment to eradicate Malaria and promote national healing following the post-election tribal violence. The Convention brings together key leaders in the realms of politics, civil society and religion to discuss creative approaches and foster youth action to tackle pressing global issues.

“Usher’s New Look is excited to expand Powered By Service and learn best practices from global decision makers and youth leaders,” said Shawn H. Wilson, President of Usher’s New Look.

The theme of the Global Peace Convention in 2009 is “Peacebuilding for the 21st Century: Interfaith, Service and Family.”

“Usher’s New Look understands that service is a simple and selfless act which benefits others and enables people to connect despite their differences,” said David Caprara, Director of Global Peace Service Alliance. “The GPSA Alliance is honored to help expand the pathbreaking success of UNL’s Powered by Service by partnering with grassroots youth service initiatives in Kenya, the Philippines, US and other nations working multilaterally.”

The Global Peace Convention rises on the foundation of service, interfaith cooperation, and families dedicated to peace, the core hallmarks of more than 30 Global Peace Festivals in 18 nations on 5 continents over the past three years.

The universal ideal of ‘One Family Under God’ serves as the organizing principle of the Global Peace Festivals along with mounting a global culture of service.

About Usher’s New Look and Powered by Service

Youth ages 12 through 20 around the country are eligible to apply for a $500 Powered By Service grant by logging onto poweredbyservice.org or ushersnewlook.org. Grants will be awarded to exceptional service ideas so that youth are not only called to serve, but have the tools they need to create real change. For more information about Usher’s New Look or Powered By Service, please visit the Web site at http://www.poweredbyservice.org or http://www.ushersnewlook.org.

Source: PRnewswire.com & Ushersnewlook.org

Have you ever wanted to truly change something negative in your community? Every person, especially youth 12-20, sees an issue they would address and change if only they had the funding and backing from fellow peers and organizations that felt the same passion to create and correct. Well, here is the chance to receive all that and more! Usher’s New Look Foundation announced an international initiative at the Clinton Global Initiative this past month, Powered By Service! Through the Powered By Service Campaign, youth in 6 cities: Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee, New York, Los Angeles, and New Orleans; can apply for grants to implement long term impact youth led service projects. Currently there are 400 grants of $500 a piece up for grabs. Applications are available on the www.poweredbyservice.org site.

Some tips for youth thinking about applying, make sure you have a group of around 5 people willing to take on leadership roles and a youth oriented organization; thoroughly think through the issue, its causes, and possible solution(s) you may accomplish through your project. Make your project unique by employing the talents and skills of you and your team in order to hike interest and make service fun! Put on a play, design in an all-charity fashion show, or even create a song about service and sell it on iTunes! Also contact local resources such as news stations and local politicians to help you spread the word and bring attention to your issue. Include proof of preparation with your application to show how serious you are about changing your community. Once your application is reviewed by fellow youth of the Mogul In Training Youth Advisory and Philanthropy Board, and approved, the Board will continue to contact you personally, and help you meet deadlines and create goals to make your service project more effective. The grant applications are approved every two weeks and the deadline for submissions is November 6th.

Through this youth lead movement, 500,000 youth with mobilize 500,000 peers and impact the lives of over 5,000,000 people worldwide. These grants are only being issued to those that truly want to erase a problem and not put a temporary fix on a long lasting issue. So if you have an issue that needs to be addressed in your community, gather some friends, connect with an organization such as; Boys and Girls Clubs or City Year and apply for a grant to create a change and correct that issue!

Source: Ushersnewlook.org