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.

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 Harlem that fall. 

Nearly 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.

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.

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.

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 Harlem 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.

Jesse was born and raised in Harlem, where he’s become a community leader and captain of Harlem Run. He’s run the NYC Marathon before, but this time it’s different: he’s running to uplift youth who often get written off before their stories even begin. Jesse sees running as a tool for visibility, wellness, and change— and Next PAGE’s mission reflects the kind of community investment he’s spent years embodying. Running these 26.2 miles is about more than a personal best. It’s about making space for the next generation.

A hip hop artist based in NYC, Descendent found his voice in poetry and music— but lost it, literally, after multiple jaw surgeries. In that silence, he discovered running. He sees it as both therapy and revolution: a way to move forward while carrying stories that often go untold. He’s running the NYC Marathon to help amplify the voices of incarcerated youth— and to show them, through his own story, what healing and transformation can look like.

This will be Taryn’s first marathon—and she is running because of Next PAGE’s mission. A culture reporter and former Black Voices Editor at HuffPost, Taryn grew up watching how systems failed the kids around her. Some were funneled into jail or foster care, while others struggled with literacy in schools that weren’t built to support them. Running for Next PAGE is her way of standing with those kids and investing in a future where every young person has the tools — and the audience — to tell their own story.

LeNard is an educator and Harlem Run member who has spent his career creating space for young people to express themselves. He’s run one marathon before— but this one, he says, means the most. He’s running for his former students, many of whom were navigating systems like foster care and juvenile justice while just trying to grow up. Next PAGE’s focus on creativity, healing, and storytelling speaks directly to what he’s seen kids need— and what he’s committed to helping provide.

As a criminal justice reporter, Emily has followed cases from the street to the courtroom. Too often, she wrote stories about kids caught in the crosshairs, with no one to tell their side. She founded the literacy nonprofit, Next PAGE, to change that: to give incarcerated and formerly incarcerated youth the space, tools and audience to take back their narrative. Running the NYC Marathon is her way of carrying the mission of Next PAGE across all five boroughs— and inviting the city to listen.