Gaga launches youth empowerment foundation

LADY GAGA has launched a new charity aimed at empowering youth.

The pop superstar announced the birth of her Born This Way Foundation on Wednesday (02Nov11).

She states, "My mother and I have initiated a passion project. We call it the Born This Way Foundation. Together we hope to establish a standard of bravery and kindness, as well as a community worldwide that protects and nurtures others in the face of bullying and abandonment."

Led and directed by Gaga and her mother Cynthia Germanotta, BTWF will partner with the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and The California Endowment, which are both ranked among the top foundations in America, and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.

An advisory board will also be appointed and announced soon.

The Poker Face hitmaker hopes to use the new charity to "lead youth into a braver new society where each individual is accepted and loved as the person they were born to be."