Venture: Merit America
Merit America closes the opportunity gap at scale by preparing adults stuck in low-wage roles for well-paying careers.
Expert: Eric Wong
Head of Operations – Workpath, Ro
Merit America partnered with Rippleworks to standardize the collection of data and key metrics.
Merit America is a career development nonprofit that provides a path to skilled careers for low-wage working adults in the technology space. Merit America combines flexible, part-time training for in-demand careers with best-in-class career coaching and peer support. Merit America partners with the Google Career Certificates Fund to offer Zero Percent Loans through a third-party loan provider, Ascent. This learner-friendly loan requires no money upfront, has a fixed 0% interest rate, and, unlike other programs that offer more predatory income-share agreements, the loan has a flat monthly fee that learners start paying back once they earn +$40K in annual wages.
One of Merit America’s top priorities going into the project was standardizing the collection of data and key metrics on Merit America’s alumni to highlight their competitive differentiation for potential employer partners.
Merit America partnered with Eric Wong, an operations expert with experience in healthcare and tech. Together, they:
• Define universal metrics and streamline data collection on alumni.
• Cultivated stronger team alignment across common goals to improve alumni metrics.
