A legacy of success: Mary Zilney retiring as CEO of region’s Crisis Services
WATERLOO REGION — Twenty years ago, if a man showed up at the highly-secured doors of the women’s shelter in Kitchener, an announcement would be made to all in the building.
Regardless if it was a police officer or someone dropping off a donation, all women in the building were put on alert.
“It seems so bizarre now,” said Mary Zilney, outgoing CEO of Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region, who announced her retirement last week after 12 years at the head of the agency. Her last day will be next March.
“This is not our fight,” she said. “It is society’s responsibility to fight violence against women. It takes men walking beside us.”
Today, there are men on the agency’s board of directors and recently a man was hired as the agency’s fund development manager.
“Twenty years ago that would have been unheard of. Staff would have reacted,” she said. “It’s refreshing to see how culture has switched.”
“We don’t use typewriters anymore,” said Zilney, who often uses the analogy to address the constant evolution of ideas.
Born and raised in Kitchener, Zilney, who turns 65 next March, spent most of her working years in the social work field. She was a front-line worker at Anselma House in the 1990s and worked for Family and Children’s Services of Waterloo Region and later in Guelph before being hired as CEO at Women’s Crisis Services.
In addition to working the front lines, Zilney sat on the agency’s board for three years before taking the top job.
Zilney said within a month of becoming CEO, she had put forth her first funding proposal to the ministry, looking for funds to build a new Anselma House.
It opened in 2011 on Heritage Drive in the Stanley Park area of Kitchener and increased the facility from 20 to 45 bedrooms. In the old Anselma building, 10 offices were converted into bedrooms to serve 30 women.
Back then, the province donated money for the new build with the help of Kitchener Centre MPP John Milloy.
“We were trying to cook on a sixburner stove for 30 women,” she said.
When it came to building a new Haven House in Cambridge, government funding was not forthcoming. The shelter was hoping for money but government funding never came, leaving the agency with a $2 million mortgage.
The current mortgage is $1.6 million. That meant closing 26 beds at both shelters and losing two staff members.
Zilney had been vocal about the agency’s desperate need for money during the campaign and disappointment in not meeting fundraising goals. But she is more reflective about the last five years of securing land and building Haven House. It opened last September.
“I’ve put it aside,” she said. “My focus now is putting the ducks in order for the next nine months,” she said.
That means getting ready for bargaining in the fall for unionized staff and putting a budget together next January.
Today, the relationship with management and the union is healthy and strong but there have been difficult times such as the one-month lockout in 2008.
“We came out the other end far better than where we were,” Zilney said.
The agency has 45 staff and 35 of them, all front-line workers, are unionized.
The annual budget is $3.5 million and more than 80 per cent of its budget comes from the province. The agency fundraises about $500,000 a year, she said.
Zilney said she’s proud of the new shelters. In addition to women having private rooms, there are plenty of additional rooms such as a children’s room, a computer room, and a space for teenagers.
Programming has expanded to include music therapy and expanded outreach services. The shelters have a clinical psychologist available to assist women, which is funded by the provincial government.
“We are the only shelter in Canada that has a clinical psychologist,” she said.
Zilney said she’s also proud of the partnerships she has with other local groups and improved relationships between the agency and Family and Children’s Services as well as police.
The Family Violence Project introduced by Waterloo Regional Police has allowed the agency and other groups to work collaboratively to assist victims of violence.
“Whenever a charge is laid against a male abuser, the investigating officer gets consent and passes the information to our outreach worker,” she said.
In the past, the agency may have never heard of the incident or been able to help the woman.
“It’s like a puzzle,” she said. “We all have a piece with a particular part of expertise.”
Zilney said she still gets frustrated when people say, “Why don’t women just leave?”
“People ask this all the time. It drives me crazy,” she said.
“They are asking the wrong question. Why do men abuse?”
Zilney said there are many reasons why women might stay in abusive relationships or return to an abusive partner. The reasons range from fear, their children, religion, culture and financial reasons.
Zilney said the cycle of violence continues and the agency is starting to see fourth generations of some families coming to the shelter.
“We have a long way to go to break the cycle,” she said.
The agency is seeing more seniors, women who have been married 40 to 50 years coming to the shelter. But the average age remains 35.
The agency welcomes women who identify as LGBQT. The agency is also interested in reaching young women, 18 to 30, to assist them in recognizing issues of power and control.
Zilney said she feels satisfied that she leaves the agency with both shelters, new and expanded and with a capacity to grow.
The focus now should be on sustainability, she said.
“I’m leaving it in good situation. I’m content,” she said.
As for retirement, Zilney says she doesn’t have big plans.
The mother of two adult daughters, Zilney plans on spending more time with her nine-year-old grandson, Nick, named after her husband Nicholas.
But for Zilney, who’s been a strong advocate for women’s issues, leaving will be bittersweet.
“There will be a sad part. I will miss the people,” she said. “I’ve met so many people along the way, donors, community leaders.”
“Yet the unknown is very exciting. Retirement is like going on a trip. I don’t know what I will do or who I will meet.”