
ABOUT THE CONVERGE
Our mission is to foster courageous conversations that are people focused to build a systemic response to injustice. We are building a system to fight the system.
The Converge Collective was founded in an effort to right historic injustices through education, facilitation, and connection. We highlight the stones of hope in our communities.

Jennifer Gunter, PhD
Founder and Executive Director
Our Founder
JENNIFER H. GUNTER, PhD., is the Founder and Executive Director of The Converge Collective and most recently served as the Director of the Collaborative on Race for the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of South Carolina. She is a facilitator for the Welcome Table process, a tested community trust-building process that began in Mississippi in 2004. With this tool, she works to help communities heal from societal divisions that have been historically embedded. Her knowledge that the key to reconciliation is rooted in an understanding of history fuels this work.
She created the South Carolina Youth Collective to help the state grow our own leaders by developing skills and acquiring historic information to increase their ability to change their own communities.
She also organizes the annual Equity Summit, an interdisciplinary, intergenerational regional discussion of race and equity.
She has earned a B.A. and M.A. in Southern Studies from the University of Mississippi and a Ph.D. in History from the University of South Carolina. She is a historian who specializes in the intersections of region, gender, race, health, law, and activism. Originally from Jackson, Mississippi, she and her husband now proudly call South Carolina home.
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Mission: The Converge's mission is to foster courageous conversations that are people focused to build a systemic response to injustice. We are building a system to fight the system.
Vision: to encourage real and lasting change that can come from honest communication and to build bridges between sectors.