Our Impact

Since its inception in 2002, the Maverick Foundation has positively impacted the community through providing educational scholarships to young people who commit to volunteer work with various local organizations. Their public service work is tied in with the Congressional Award program, which recognizes them for setting and achieving goals. These three major components come together to define the essence of what we do.

Scholarships Granted

Since 2002, The Maverick Foundation has awarded $619,840 in scholarships to ninety-three recipients and have committed $147,250 for the next four years. We awarded $23,000 in 2024 and $33,000 in 2025. We currently have twenty-eight active scholarship recipients including six new rising stars who recently joined our team. Scholarships are incentive based with each having a maximum value of $7,000. Recipients are required to achieve the Congressional Award Bronze Medal by December of their Sophomore Year ($1,000), the Silver Medal by December of their Junior Year ($1,000), and the Gold Medal by December of their Senior Year ($2,000). An annual $750 scholarship is awarded for the four years based on consistent progress towards each medal level.

To help us continue this growth, consider making a donation to the foundation.

Community Service Commitments

Just as we have grown our scholarship program, our youth participants—including a few who are not scholarship recipients—have increased their community impact through volunteer hours completed. In a single year, our volunteers collectively give up to approximately 2,000 hours of their time to support local organizations. So far they have logged 11,700 hours in community service work, and this number continues to rise.

Our program strengthens cooperation in the community as well, as our scholarship recipients have worked with a diverse array of community groups and agencies over the years. Organizations our scholarship recipients have volunteered with include:

Congressional Awards Earned

All of our youth participants’ hard work has not gone unrecognized. They participate in the Congressional Award program, offered by the U.S. Congress, in which young people set their own goals and earn medals for realizing them.

So far, our rising stars have been awarded 48 gold medals, 58 silver medals, and 69 bronze medals through the Congressional Award Foundation. Each medal level involves creating goals in four major areas: public service work, personal development, physical activity, and exploration. For more details about our participation in the Congressional Award program, see this article.

“I’d like to congratulate Joseph Plescia for his outstanding commitment to volunteer public service. His selfless dedication to helping others makes him a leader among his peers and sets an example that I hope other Staten Islanders will follow. Completing over 400 hours of community service is no easy task, and he has truly earned his Congressional Award Gold Medal.” – Congressman Michael Grimm

“We’re here because of the rock star, Michelle DeTomaso. It’s not easy getting one of these awards. I want to say thank you for what you do and I hope that you will remain in our community working hard and making it a better community for all of us.”
– Congressman Michael Grimm

Click here to learn more about our rising stars and how they feel about the program.