Gina Merritt, head of Northern Real Estate Ventures, didn’t set out to become a developer. But when she landed an interview for a job with the affordable housing development arm of a construction company, she fell in love with the field. Merritt who grew up in affordable housing showed up on her first day and knew it was where she was supposed to be. 

“The only thing I saw [on site] was a bulldozer and I just was in my car, crying really, and trembling and realizing then that this is what has been chasing me my whole life,” she says. Merritt is part of the 5% of real estate developers who are people of color — and an even smaller group who are women of color.

After more than 27 years in the field, she’s also part of Growing Diverse Housing Developers, which has directed $40 million to several community development financial institutions across the country to deploy to minority developers. Their goal is “to increase the number of minority real estate developers in the U.S. business and spurring the development and preservation of affordable housing.”

Merritt also sees providing affordable housing as a tool to build generational wealth. “What I know about affordable housing is that when most people move in, they don’t move out,” she says. “And I decided with my platform that I created, Project Community Capital, that I wanted to do better than that. I have this holistic approach to community development, which means we help people with all of the things that they need around economic development.”

This episode is based on an article that's part of our series, CDFI Futures, which explores the community development finance industry through the lenses of equity, public policy and inclusive community development. The series is generously supported by Partners for the Common Good. Sign up for PCG’s CapNexus newsletter at capnexus.org.