In collaboration with Project No Rest, the School of Government is sponsoring two training sessions designed to help local government staff recognize the basic indicators of sex and labor trafficking.

On Friday, June 15, School of Government faculty member and ncIMPACT Director Anita Brown-Graham presented her research on workforce development to the myFutureNC Commission, a statewide initiative on educational attainment.
This year faculty member and director of ncIMPACT Anita Brown-Graham was named a Lifetime Champion by the North Carolina Justice Center. The Justice Center presents its Defender of Justice Awards annually to honor individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions in combatting poverty.

In June 2018, Sara Glines, the publisher of the News & Observer announced the North Carolina Influencer Series as coverage of the 2018 election.
Faculty member Carl Stenberg testified before a congressional task force on intergovernmental relations on May 17, 2018.

Faculty member Willow S. Jacobson analyzes the development of internal human resources policies in her latest publication, The Development of County HR Policies: The Perspectives of Counties in Two States. Alongside Kristina Lambright of Binghamton University, Jacobson conducted interviews with 40 county HR directors from New York and North Carolina.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC) and the UNC School of Government announce the selection of 10 North Carolina local government teams who will work to address the opioid crisis in their communities through an intensive two-year program.

Justin Stirewalt’s grandfather, retired First Sergeant Robert C. Lawson, served in the North Carolina State Highway Patrol for nearly 30 years, from 1973 to 2001. During his first year on the job, Lawson came to the then Institute of Government to train at the 54th North Carolina State Highway Patrol Basic School.

Stephanie Watkins-Cruz grew up in southeast Charlotte where, she said, “There were families and people of every shade, shape, and size. However, it looks much different now.” Observing these changes and how they impacted people drew her interest in community work early on.

The Master of Public Administration program hosted at the UNC School of Government is ranked among “America’s Best Graduate Schools” by U.S. News & World Report. The program improved two positions since 2017, tying for 23rd in the public affairs category.

In fall 2017, Professor of Public Administration and Government Maureen Berner traveled to Belgium to conduct research on food insecurity and poverty as a visiting scholar at Ghent University and its Centre for Global Studies. Berner also exchanged homes with University of Antwerp historian Maarten Van Ginderachter, who visited the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to work on his book and collaborate with faculty here in the United States.

The growing opioid epidemic in North Carolina has left local governments wondering how to construct an effective response. In partnership with BlueCross NC, the School of Government is offering a two-year program to ten teams across the state to support their policy efforts in combatting this crisis.
