Executive Bios

Maureen Blaha
Executive Director
National Runaway Switchboard

Maureen Blaha is the executive director of the National Runaway Switchboard (NRS), a position she has held since November 2000. During her tenure, the organization has made great strides. The visibility of NRS and awareness of its 1-800-RUNAWAY hotline has grown, while support has increased in both personnel (33 percent increase in volunteer hours) and finances (122 percent increase in budget). New resources, an innovative runaway prevention program, and several key accomplishments have been realized under Blaha’s leadership including:

• 2008: NRS conducts a comprehensive statistical analysis of crisis calls to its 1-800-RUNAWAY hotline since 2000 to learn of trends around why youth call, age of callers, and issues runaway and at-risk youth face; the trend data has served as an invaluable resource to further educate and raise awareness about the runaway crisis in America. That same year, NRS receives a pledge from the Chicago Community Trust for $125,000 to initiate a comprehensive national research study on homeless and runaway youth.
  
• 2007: The organization expands its services by introducing a new program focused on runaway prevention – Let’s Talk: Runaway Prevention Curriculum. The curriculum is a resource to help teachers, social workers and community leaders throughout the country combat America’s runaway crisis. That same year, NRS receives an award from the Family & Youth Services Bureau to continue as the federally-designated national communication system for runaway and homeless youth for the next five years.
  
• 2006: NRS forms strategic partnership with award-winning musician and actor Chris “Ludacris” Bridges and his charitable foundation, The Ludacris Foundation. Within a year NRS experiences a 50 percent increase in calls to its hotline, and the number of visitors to its Web site increases more than 60 percent.
  
• 2005: Blaha is a featured speaker at a closed session of the Special Victims Assistance Unit of the FBI. That same year, NRS reach extends beyond the U.S. when Blaha is invited to speak to UK parliament to help launch The Children's Society of England's 2005 national Safe and Sound Campaign. In addition, she appears on the British television show Tonight with Trevor McDonald to help educate the country on how a systematic approach to helping runaway and at-risk youth can be attained.
  
• 2002: NRS co-creates National Runaway Prevention Month, a campaign to increase awareness of the issues facing runaway youth and to educate youth, families and the public about resources available to prevent youth from running away. That same year, Blaha is invited to represent the runaway population at the groundbreaking White House Conference on Missing, Exploited and Runaway Children.

Blaha first demonstrated a strong commitment to youth and family issues as director of the statewide child abuse program for the Children’s Home and Aid Society of Illinois. Prior to that, she served as the legislative liaison for the Massachusetts Office for Children, a child advocacy and regulatory agency. Blaha is a co-creator of the Blue Bow Campaign for Child Abuse Prevention (Illinois) and the Great American Wagon Pull: Families Pulling Together to Prevent Child Abuse, and is a founding member of the National Family Support Roundtable.