The 11 1/2 St Foundation is an educational foundation that supports scholarships for socio-economically disadvantaged students. We have awarded 177 scholarships totaling $124,700 since incorporating as a 501c3 non-profit in 2001.
The student recipients are committed and intelligent and almost all of them are first-generation college students. Most family incomes range from less than $10,000/yr to about $40,000/yr. Until 2013, most of the scholarship recipients had been students in Ruth Kravetz’s classes at either Davis (now Northside HS) or Reagan High School but always included students from other schools. Since 2013, the scholarship recipients include students from Northside High School as well as students from Houston who have actively contributed to community engagement while in high school.
The colleges from which the students have graduated include Johns Hopkins, Beloit, the University of Texas, Texas A & M, Princeton, Wesleyan, the University of Virginia, Kalamazoo, Cornell, Texas State, Houston Community College, and the University of Houston. The scholarship is sometimes the difference between being able to attend college or not. The scholarship recipient list is here and their thank you notes provide you with a window into their first college years. Many of the recipients are now teachers themselves, most working in high-need communities.
In addition to offering a scholarship to under-represented students, the 11 1/2 St Foundation provided veteran teacher awards in 2001 for teachers and staff committed to working in high-need schools. This Veteran Teachers’ Award was presented to eight teachers and staff working in public schools in the North Central region of HISD in 2002.
HISTORY OF THE 11 1/2 ST FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP
In 1998, while a teacher at Davis High School, Ruth Kravetz began giving small scholarships to students in her calculus classes with money collected from friends and family. In 2001, the 11 ½ Street Foundation, a 501c3 public foundation, was formed to formalize the scholarship program and provide a one-time set of veteran teacher awards. Since 2001, we have given away about $124,700 in scholarships ranging from $500 to $1500 per scholarship to approximately 177 recipients and $24,000 in teacher appreciation awards.
11th 1/2 St Foundation 