Usher may be making headlines these days for signing them “papers,” but fresh off his divorce and before his upcoming album release, he’s keeping busy giving back.

This weekend, Usher appears on the popular ABC show, “Extreme Home Makeover,” which airs on Sunday, Dec. 6 at 8 p.m. EST.

Each week, the show, with host Ty Pennington and his design team, rebuild or renovate a home for a deserving family badly in need of it. The families often have special needs children, have suffered through various tragedies or have demonstrated remarkable commitment to their communities through service.

In this latest episode, the family honored is the Tennessee-based family of Trina Scott. A married mother of three daughters, Scott tragically became a widow when her policeman husband was killed in a car accident. Scott founded the C.O.P.S. organization (Concerns of Police Survivors, Inc.) to help other families devastated by the loss of their loved ones in law enforcement. She became its president in 2003, in addition to working a full-time job to support her daughters.

But after spending tens of thousands to repair her home, due to termite infestation and water damage, it still had major structural problems. Needless to say, Pennington and his team put their heart into providing Scott and her girls a home in which they can be comfortable and safe.

In conjunction with his appearance on the show, Usher donated $25,000 to C.O.P.S, to help further Scott’s work. He made the donation through his non-profit foundation, Usher’s New Look. The money will help Scott and C.O.P.S. award $500 grants to young people who are interested in serving their communities through various projects. Usher’s New Look will award additional grants to youth around the country who have service projects in mind through his Powered By Service initiative.

If you are 12 to 20 years of age and have a service project or organization for which you’d like financial help, you can apply for a $500 Powered By Service grant by logging onto www.poweredbyservice.org  or www.ushersnewlook.org. Grants will be awarded to exceptional service ideas.

On his Web site, Usher talks about what made his charity work so important and how he’s evolved it to include the Powered By Service initiative.

“In the beginning, New Look was an avenue through which I could donate funds to important causes or make special appearances to call attention to issues. I worked with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to grant wishes and provide memories for those with little time left for new memories. And then, I started Camp New Look to help young people explore the business side of the entertainment industry to prepare them for success in whatever career paths they ultimately chose,” Usher says. “While it may seem like these acts are unrelated, they are in fact very connected. They all represent ways that I was able to use my unique gifts and talents to serve. I didn’t need to be a politician, a community organizer, an army sergeant or a teacher to serve. I could see things that needed to change and people that needed support and I found a way to use what I had—music and entertainment—to serve.”

Usher says his experiences with helping assist Hurricane Katrina victims and working with young people on voter registration during the presidential campaign helped him realized there was even more he could contribute.

“Powered By Service is out to change the way we fundamentally think about service and youth in our communities. I have learned that everyone has power to serve, “Usher says. “Powered By Service finally recognized that service is more than traditional volunteerism; it’s about creating change on our terms .....

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