Amy Jonason is an Indiana native who loves stories, stats, and green juice. She is a Sociology professor at Furman University.

I recently celebrated one year of living in the South. And what a year it’s been! For this Midwesterner, the last 365 days have been full of new experiences. I’ve hiked Caesar’s Head and Rainbow Falls. I’ve tried grits, boiled peanuts, and pimento cheese. I’ve also learned when –and when not – to say “Bless your heart.” (For way too long, I thought that phrase was a compliment. My apologies.)

There are a whole lot of things I love about living here: tomato sandwiches, friendly people, the refreshing breeze y’all call “winter.” But as a social scientist who teaches on subjects like poverty and inequality, I’ve also encountered some sobering information about this lovely state we call home. For example, an estimated 17% of South Carolinians live in poverty (compared to 15% of the national population.) When we look specifically at children, that proportion rises to almost one in four. Like the rest of the country, income inequality in SC is at a level akin to the Gilded Age of the 1920’s. One percent of South Carolinians make about 15% of all the income that is generated in our state.

I’ve been here long enough to know that people react to these numbers in a variety of ways. Some say that weak social safety nets are at fault; others blame government dependence and personal irresponsibility. Some say there’s too much inequality; others, that the people on the top rung of the income ladder have earned their place. Conversations on these and other hot-button subjects – affordable housing, criminal justice, climate change – all too quickly turn into arguments between the “right” and the “left,” especially in our current political climate.

My research on civic engagement, however, suggests that one of the most important skills we can learn is to talk to each other across our differences. Dialogue builds trust, strengthens relationships, and enhances a community’s capacity to effectively address social problems. If we want Greenville to be a better place to live for everyone, we need to create spaces in which we talk and grow together.

This is one of the reasons I am so excited about JustFaith, a program that brings together people of faith to build relationships and discuss urgent social issues. In the program I just completed, a dozen young adults met weekly to learn and share. We read compelling narratives on subjects like poverty, the death penalty, and peacemaking, and we talked to local residents who are making a difference. I made friends, stoked my passion for social activism, and got excited about the great strides being made in my new city.

There are now hundreds of JustFaith alumni in Greenville, and a number of new groups are starting up this fall. Some are connected to Christian churches, and others are not. Whatever your faith convictions, if you’d like to learn more about JustFaith Ministries, you are warmly invited to the upcoming Faith in Action Forum, a mission and justice fair on August 31, 2017. The event will be held in gym at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic School from 5:30-7:30pm. Jack Jezreel, the founder of JustFaith Ministries, will give a keynote address at 6:15. A number of representatives from local nonprofit organizations will be present to share information about the work they are doing in Greenville. To learn more visit www.justfaithgreenville.org.

Jack Jezreel has observed that “one of the most fundamental insights of the Gospel, reinforced by the experience of human beings all over the planet, is that the fully human, fully alive person is someone who loves wide.” Greenville, I’m happy to be here and I look forward to many more years of living and loving wide with you.

Data and quotations in this article come from the Census Bureau Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (2015), the Economic Policy Institute (www.epi.org), and from www.justfaith.org.