great scott!

Mackenzie Scott gifts millions to Houston schools and organizations

The uber-generous Mackenzie Scott has done it again.

Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images

Six months after donating $50 million to Prairie View A&M, author and billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott is giving another generous gift to more Texas schools.

On Tuesday, June 15, Scott — the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos — announced that she has given $2.7 billion to 286 organizations. Scott is known for her impromptu multi-billion dollar donations to charities and racial equity issues.

In a post about her recent donations on Medium, she wrote that she made the gifts to enable the organizations to continue their work, and as a "signal of trust and encouragement" to them and others.

Now, Houston-area schools and organizations stand to benefit greatly.

Among them are Brazosport College in Lake Jackson and Project Row Houses, a non-profit artistic community in Houston's Third Ward.

San Jacinto College in Pasadena will receive $30 million from Scott and her husband, Dan Jewett — the largest private gift in the college's history.

Because of her donation, the college said it will provide free tuition and fees for the entire class of 2021. That opportunity will be open to anyone who graduated this year and lives in their district.

"The San Jacinto College Board of Trustees, the San Jacinto College Foundation Board of Directors, as well as our employees and students, both current and future, are deeply grateful for this very generous gift," said Chancellor Dr. Brenda Hellyer.

"We weren't expecting it, and it came at just the right time so we could put programs like 21Forward in place to help the students in east Harris County who made it through their senior year. These students were impacted by COVID, yet they persisted and graduated. We are honored to be able to use a portion of this gift to help students stay on their higher education pathway. We look forward to announcing plans for the remainder of the funding in the future. For now, we are stunned by this unbelievable gift and excited about the opportunities it provides for us to serve our community in new ways."

In Scott's blog post, she explained that she looked for "2- and 4-year institutions successfully educating students who come from communities that have been chronically underserved."

CultureMap news partner ABC13 has reached out to Brazosport College and Project Row Houses to learn more about how Scott's gift will be used.

This is the third round of announcements Scott has made regarding her philanthropy. In 2020, she donated about $6 billion to COVID relief, gender equity, historically Black colleges and universities and other schools.

You can view the full list of recipients on Medium.

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For more on this story, visit ABC13.

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Classic car dealer rolls into Houston with massive Katy facility

Courtesy of Streetside Classics

Streetside's Katy location will be similar to its store in Fort Worth.

Classic car enthusiasts will soon have a new place to shop for vintage rides. Streetside Classics, a vintage car dealer with six locations nationwide, will open its seventh in Katy later this year.

Located at at 500 Commerce Pkwy, the 56,000-square-foot showroom will have enough space for more than 250 cars. The facility will house classic muscle cars such as Mustangs, Cudas, and Corvettes as well as classic trucks, SUVs, and other vehicles from the early 1900’s to contemporary exotics.

"When we started Streetside, we committed to a customer-first philosophy in an industry that desperately needed it," said Donna Mueller, co-founder and chairwoman of Streetside Classics, in a statement. "We’re excited to expand to a seventh location in a vibrant and fast-growing market like Houston. We hope to be a hub for the growing enthusiast community by hosting car shows, welcoming car clubs, and always being a place where you can come see that car your dad had.”

One way Streetside caters to buyers is with in-house lifts that allow shoppers to inspect a vehicle more thoroughly than simply opening the hood. In addition, the dealer offers financing, shipping, warranties, and a “low-pressure environment” to make buying and owning a classic car as easy as possible.

Ahead of the opening, Streetside is already accepting applications for consignment cars. Interested parties will find more information at the company’s website.

Mueller founded Streetside Classics in Charlotte, NC in 2008. Since then, the company has grown to six locations, including an outpost in Fort Worth. It sells more than 3,000 cars per year with revenues of over $1 billion annually, according to press materials.