Dr. Gina Merritt is a real estate developer and social-impact innovator behind Northern Real Estate Urban Ventures and Project Community Capital. From a childhood marked by loss to a career building community-centered developments, she’s redefining what “affordable housing” can do—opening doors to jobs, stability, and long-term wealth for overlooked talent.
In this episode, Gina shares the wake-up moment that led her into construction (yes, a bulldozer dream), how she leveraged experience—not generational wealth—to unlock major capital, and why resident services must go far beyond rent rolls. You’ll hear real transformations: a returning citizen who kept his job through targeted support, and a single mom who moved from four gigs to a career, a raise, and a path to homeownership. We dig into human-centered development, the power of social capital, and how she is leading her team to scale impact across cities.
Subscribe for more sharp, practical conversations. If this moved you, share it with a builder, policymaker, or philanthropist. Follow Dr. Merritt and support Project Community Capital to expand opportunity.
In this episode:
00:00 Introduction
01:08 Dr. Gina Merrit's Early Life and Challenges
02:15 Career Journey and Finding Purpose
04:28 Affordable Housing and Community Development
10:50 Impact Stories and Social Empowerment
14:14 Founding Project Community Capital
23:48 Challenges and Success in Raising Capital
28:53 The Importance of DEI and Philanthropy
34:42 Future Goals and Closing Remarks
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Follow Dr. Gina Merritt
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-gina-merritt-mba-7617ba6/
Website: https://drginamerritt.net
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This podcast is sponsored by Construct Reach.
As a workforce development initiative that builds reachable opportunities through construction, ConstructReach increases the visibility of the construction industry by educating students about career opportunities within construction, connecting general contractors to interns and innovative internship curricula, creating content and experiences to expose a diverse population to sustainable construction careers, and uniting stakeholders to ensure the construction industry continues to thrive.
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