Faculty member Margaret Henderson was quoted in a June 27 News & Observer article about illegal massage businesses and human trafficking in North Carolina. The article describes how traffickers fraudulently recruit women from abroad, bring them to the United States to work in these businesses, and keep them in line using force or coercion, or both.

Although she teaches in the School’s MPA program, Henderson is also the Director of the Public Intersection Project, which helps North Carolina leaders from various sectors (local governments, businesses, nonprofits, faith-based organizations, and philanthropies) to develop strategic partnerships to address human trafficking and other critical issues. By helping different stakeholders to recognize their common interests and concerns, Henderson facilitates collaboration interdisciplinary collaboration.

One specific way the Public Intersection Project offers assistance is by providing resources, such as an info sheet with basic information about sex and labor trafficking and a human trafficking discussion guide for local governments.

Henderson joined the School of Government in 1999. As director of the Public Intersection Project, she strategizes to strengthen cross-sector partnerships which help all the stakeholders address problems. She also works in conjunction with the UNC School of Social Work’s Project No Rest to help N.C. communities to confront human trafficking. She is also part of the School’s Engaging Women in Public Service effort.

Henderson has 20 years of human services experience working in state and local governments as well as nonprofits. She was previously executive director of the Orange County Rape Crisis Center. Henderson has co-authored articles published in Popular Government, ICMA's IQ Report and PM Magazine, American Review of Public Administration, PA Times, and the FBI Law Enforcement Journal. She earned her BBA in business administration from Angelo State University and her MPA from UNC-Chapel Hill.