Help Incarcerated Youth Find Their Voice

Next PAGE is a trauma-informed creative writing workshop that provides a safe space for incarcerated youth to build community, shape self-identity and open up about past struggles. Giving kids in the system the tools to tell their own narratives, youth are encouraged to glance backward in order to focus on the future, looking ahead to transitioning back into society. The program is designed to encourage a love of writing and the arts, enhancing communication and behavioral skills, and in the long-term, helping rectify abysmal literacy rates amongst incarcerated teens.

Launching as a 13-week pilot program in New York City in Fall 2025, over time, the syllabus and coursework will be expanded to year-long workshops, refined at each iteration by an advisory board and student surveys, enabling participants to make their own mark on the program’s future. Guest artists – including award-winning poets and musicians – will perform and join student panels. With a focus toward students transitioning out of the system, their work will later be published in a coffee table collection, with royalties split between published student-authors.