Next PAGE is a literacy nonprofit providing trauma-informed creative writing workshops to incarcerated, formerly incarcerated and justice system-involved youth in New York City.

We create safe, supportive spaces for young people to build community, process their experiences, and develop the tools to take agency over their own stories. By fostering a love of storytelling and creative expression, we aim to redress the deeply concerning literacy rates among youth in detention and reentry.

Workshop sessions support emotional expression, communication skills, and identity-building, while helping participants envision futures beyond their current circumstances. Designed in collaboration with education and child trauma experts, our programming is grounded in restorative and arts-based pedagogy and further shaped by student feedback, empowering participants to make their mark on the program as they move through it.

In our first year, Next PAGE has served more than 60 students ages 16 to 24 across Harlem, the South Bronx, and Brownsville. Most participants enter with third- to sixth-grade reading levels. After just a few months in our pilot programs, nearly half advanced at least one full grade level — including one student who jumped six grade levels.

With a focus on education as a tool for reentry, Next PAGE meets young people where they are, and helps them decide where they are going.

NYC Marathon 2026

Five runners have been selected to represent Next PAGE in the 2026 TCS New York City Marathon, raising funds to bolster our programming in Harlem, Brooklyn, and the Bronx.

Next PAGE has a special connection to this race. In November 2025, five runners carried our mission across all five boroughs. Each brought a personal connection to the cause — from firsthand experience with systems that criminalize youth, to careers built around helping kids reclaim their voices. Representing a powerful coalition of journalists, educators, artists, and community leaders, our inaugural team raised $10,000 to launch our first pilot at a reentry site in East Harlem.

Meet The Runners

Emily Palmer

After years covering the criminal justice system as a reporter, Emily Palmer founded Next PAGE in 2025 to help change the stories too often left untold. When she began training for the TCS New York City Marathon last year, Next PAGE was still just an idea. Its inaugural marathon fundraising team grew out of the Harlem Run community, and with the support of four fellow runners, Emily launched the nonprofit's first pilot in East Harlem that fall.

A year later, Next PAGE has served more than 60 incarcerated and formerly incarcerated youth through trauma-informed creative writing workshops across East Harlem, Brownsville, and the South Bronx. Now, she’s lacing up for her 10th marathon to help transform those early pilots into sustained programming in all three communities.

Anna Garcia Smith

After spending a year living in a monastery in France, Anna Garcia Smith came away with a deeper belief that healing begins by listening carefully, making space for others, and recognizing the dignity in every person's story. Anna moved to New York in 2025 to begin a Master of Divinity degree at Union Theological Seminary, where the work explores Buddhism, interreligious engagement, and community-based care. That same week, Anna joined Harlem Run's speed team and learned about Next PAGE's creative writing workshops for youth in detention and reentry.

In the spring, Anna organized a successful Mile-a-thon fundraiser benefiting Next PAGE and several other local organizations rooted in justice initiatives. Now, Anna is taking on a first marathon to help even more young people discover the power, beauty, wisdom, and potential within themselves. For Anna, running has always been about more than fitness. It's a way to build stronger, more connected communities.

Dwayne Ferguson

Born and raised in Harlem, Dwayne Ferguson is part of the very first graduating class of Next PAGE students. When he joined the program, he hoped to improve his writing. Along the way, he discovered something more: confidence in his own voice and the ability to help others find theirs. A dedicated student whose warmth and positivity make everyone in the room feel welcome, Dwayne has become an important part of the Next PAGE family.

Now, he's training with Harlem Run for his first marathon, taking on New York City's five boroughs not just as a runner, but as someone whose own Next PAGE journey continues beyond the classroom. He's running so more young people have the same opportunity to find their voice, build community, and believe in what's possible for themselves.

José Alejandro López Díaz

José Alejandro López Díaz is a physician, Harlem Run member, and advocate for holistic, person-centered care. From working alongside Indigenous healers in the rural Andes to treating patients in a public hospital in the South Bronx, he believes true healing begins when people are understood as whole individuals—not simply by their circumstances or diagnoses.

He's running his first marathon because Next PAGE reflects the values he learned growing up in Quito, Ecuador: that communities grow stronger by listening, sharing knowledge, and seeing people as whole individuals. It's a philosophy he believes helps young people imagine futures defined not by the labels placed on them, but by who they choose to become.

Thomas Rainey

Thomas Rainey is taking on his first-ever marathon for Next PAGE. Helping him get there is "Team Tom," a dedicated crew of Harlem Run friends who regularly join him for weekend long runs. When he's not logging miles with them, he's making people laugh through stand-up comedy. Whether he's on stage or on the streets of New York, Thomas believes in helping people find their voice.

Drawn to Next PAGE's focus on literacy and with a personal connection to incarceration through members of his own family, he's taking on his first 26.2 because he believes education and creativity are key to young people's long-term growth and development.

Opus 1 Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN: 84-4029712), serves as the fiscal sponsor for the Next PAGE program, providing fiduciary oversight and enabling tax-deductible contributions to the program.

Next PAGE: NYC Marathon 2026