Everyone deserves a place to belong.
Since 1969, the Boltwood Project has brought UMass Amherst students together with children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities for weekly recreation, real friendship and a shared fight for inclusion.
Friendship first, since 1969.
Who we are
Boltwood is a student-run civic engagement and leadership program at UMass Amherst, offered with Civic Engagement & Service-Learning (CESL) and our community partners. Small groups of students meet every week with children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities for recreation, enrichment and friendship. It is the largest and longest continuously running community engagement program on campus.
What we stand for
Our work goes beyond a weekly visit. We follow the social model of disability: the barriers people face come from how society is built, not from the people themselves. So we challenge ableism, exclusion and isolation, and we advocate for disability rights and full inclusion. Three values guide us: belonging, reciprocity and learning.
Who’s meeting today?
Fourteen groups meet across the Pioneer Valley every week. Choose a day to see who is gathering.
Weekly meetings
All times are Eastern.
- Fourteen groups, Monday to FridaySee which groups meet each day on Our sites.
How a Boltwood week works
Everyone arrives from somewhere different. Week after week, the same small group meets in the same place, and strangers become friends.
Show up
UMass students from dozens of majors, and community members from our partner organizations, each bring their own stories and strengths.
Gather
Each group meets for two to three hours a week at one site, led by a student supervisor who knows the place and the people.
Belong
Over a semester the group becomes a community. Students reflect on what they learn and carry it into advocacy for full inclusion.
In their words
What students and community members say about their time with Boltwood.
“Boltwood is my favorite thing to do on Tuesdays.”
“Boltwood has given more to me than I have to them.”
“I went in with the attitude that I was only there to help them, but I realized that they were also helping me.”
“…trying to work with someone and not try to fix them.”
Fourteen places, one valley
From the UMass campus to Holyoke, Chicopee, Hatfield and South Hadley, Boltwood groups meet across the Pioneer Valley.
Our partners include day programs, schools, a working farm, a music academy and an assisted living community. Supervisors share photos from their sites, always with everyone’s permission. Tap the picture to see the next one.
Boltwood members at orientation, Fall 2026
Serving requires us to know that our humanity is more powerful than our expertise.
Boltwood in numbers
- Founded
- 1969
- at Belchertown State School
- Students enrolled
- 11,000+
- under our founder, Merle Willmann
- Every semester
- 100+
- UMass students, from dozens of majors
- This fall
- 14
- community sites across the valley
Let’s make a connection.
Whether you are a UMass student, a possible participant, a family member, a caregiver or a community organization, we would love to hear from you. Please leave out private medical information.