Who is "Maureen Blaha"?
Maureen Blaha is the executive director of the
National Runaway Safeline (NRS), the federally-designated national
communication system for runaway and homeless youth. Under her leadership
the visibility of NRS and awareness of its 1-800-RUNAWAY hotline has grown,
while support has steadily increased in both personnel and finances. Several
key accomplishments have been realized during Blaha’s tenure including: a
program focused on runaway prevention called Let’s Talk: Runaway
Prevention Curriculum; a comprehensive trend data report of crisis calls
to 1-800-RUNAWAY used
to educate and raise awareness about the runaway crisis in America; “Runaway
Youth Longitudinal Study 2011” research that identifies the long-term effects
of running away as a youth, which can be used to better educate and encourage
parents, teachers and other adults to get involved, address the issues, and
ultimately prevent a runaway situation; and National Runaway Prevention Month,
an annual 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. Additionally, Blaha has been a featured speaker
of the Special Victims Assistance Unit for the FBI (2005 and 2010), was invited
to speak to UK parliament to help launch The Children's Society of England's
national Safe and Sound Campaign (2005) and represented the runaway population
at the groundbreaking White House Conference on Missing, Exploited and Runaway
Children (2002). Blaha was selected as the recipient of the CASA of Cook
County 2010 Spirit Award and selected to participate in the Laura and John
Arnold Giving Library for high-end donors. Blaha serves on the Interstate
Commission for Juveniles, appointed in 2009.
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