“He is the definition of the saying, ‘Music soothes the wild beast,’” reflected new homeowner Dawn Delgado from her condo in Chicopee, which was once military housing for Westover Air Reserve Base. “Homeownership Specialist Arcides Nieves was the calm music, I’m the wild beast.”

And with good reason. Imagine the stress of having to navigate identity-theft fraud, discovered as you attempted to file your taxes, just as you are on the cusp of securing a mortgage. Add in the need for surgery—completed days after she moved into her condo in June 2025—and the enormity of Delgado’s determination comes into focus.

“I felt like I was being pulled in twenty different directions. If I couldn’t fix the identity-theft stuff, I was going to lose the condo. I didn’t want to give it up! It’s a nice condo, in good condition, in a quiet area,” said Delgado, who has worked as a medical assistant at the Hampden County House of Corrections since 2019. “I had to go in person for stuff, you have to wait for everything by certified mail, I had to keep up with the mortgage lender. I was like, ‘I’m at work!’ I work in a jail, you’re not supposed to have your cell phone. It was nerve wracking.”

Throughout this process, Nieves was a steady presence for Delgado, as he had been since she began seeking his counsel in fall 2023. They connected after Delgado completed Way Finders’ First-time Homebuyer Workshop. Graduates of the workshop are invited to pursue one-on-one counseling.

“Dawn is a committed and hard worker, she did everything I suggested during counseling,” said Nieves, who last year helped Delgado resolve an erroneous debt that had gone to collections that she hadn’t known about. “There were times of discouragement because it was taking time to reach her goals. I advised her to trust the process and continue to reduce debt and boost savings. After that wrongful debt was removed from her credit report, her score began to jump. Dawn’s story shows resilience to not give up no matter what life throws at you.”

“I sent Arcides a photo of my savings book when I was done, he was impressed!” said Delgado, who emphasized the importance of setting savings goals and being mindful of spending. “I saved for over a year. I see these young girls going out, taking vacations, getting their nails done. I’m like, ‘Who are you impressing? Is it coming with a five-carat engagement ring?’”

Her two-bedroom condo—which features a garage, patio, and finished basement, plus access to a community pool—brings Delgado the peace and stability she’d long been seeking. The apartment where she’d lived for seven years prior featured one frustration after another: building code violations, months with no working oven, insects, mattresses stored in the hallway.

“I was nervous that I’d come home from work one day and be locked out, with all my stuff on the sidewalk, because the city shut the landlord down. I was desperate to get out of there,” said Delgado, a mother of four adult children. “When I get frustrated, my heart’s already beating. It’s the Latin in me, I’m part Cuban, part Puerto Rican, the temper’s there! Arcides was very soothing. He showed that he cared, he listened. He guided me in the right direction. I thank him for caring.”

Delgado especially appreciated his guidance in early 2025, when Nieves ran numbers and discussed the amount of mortgage she may qualify for.

“I’m over here looking at houses for $300,000 and up. He was like, ‘Girl, you can’t afford that, you’re going to be starving like Marvin. Go for something you can afford,’” said Delgado, who currently works a second job through a home care agency. “He was right. At some point I’ll need to afford things like a new car. And I’m going to be 54 soon. I’m not going to want to work two jobs forever.”

Since moving into her condo with her youngest son, there have been moments where Delgado—who was raised by her grandmother, who died when Delgado was 12—tears up.

“I’ve started crying, thinking, ‘Wow, I have a little patio in the backyard where I can put a grill, a patio set,’” said Delgado, who worked for 24 years as a certified nursing assistant, including at the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke and at a nursing home in South Hadley. “When you’re a single mother, your kids see you hustle. My kids have been homeless with me twice. I was a young teen mom, I didn’t have time to be a kid. So now at my older age, I like to joke around with my kids, to be silly. I look forward to making memories here with my family.”

She’s also now in position to help one of her daughters prepare for homeownership.

“I told her, ‘Just stay with me for a year, save up your money and go for your first house,’” said Delgado. “Rents nowadays, they are ridiculously expensive. Sometimes you need that helping hand.”

Congratulations to you, Dawn!