Coles County Council On Aging Inc.

Coles County Council On Aging Inc., doing business as Mattoon Area Senior Center, is a tax-exempt nonprofit organization based in Charleston, Illinois that operates as a federal grant recipient, serving low-to-moderate-income and underserved populations through two distinct program lines: Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) grant administration and social services delivery funded through the Social Services Block Grant.

The organization operates overwhelmingly as a sub-recipient (71% of awards) rather than a prime recipient (29%). Its federal footprint spans 31 awards with combined dollars obligated of $2.1 million across five distinct customer agencies, concentrated heavily with the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families (22 awards), which accounts for all sub-recipient activity under the Social Services Block Grant flowing through the Illinois Department of Human Services. The organization received multiple sub-awards in 2023 and 2024 from the Illinois Department of Human Services for Social Services Block Grant programming, with at least ten sub-awards dated August 3, 2023 and another ten dated July 8, 2024.

As a direct grant recipient from the Internal Revenue Service, Coles County Council operates three successive VITA project grants spanning fiscal years 2023–2026. The most recent VITA award (October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026) and its predecessor (October 1, 2024 through September 30, 2025) represent matching grant funding to support community volunteer income tax assistance. VITA programming targets taxpayers with earned income at or below the maximum EITC threshold, including elderly individuals, persons with disabilities, rural residents, military families, and those for whom English is a second language. The organization is expected to file all eligible returns electronically, achieve 90% of return production goals, and demonstrate incremental year-over-year increases in return preparation capacity. The Corporation for National and Community Service also accounts for three awards, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development for two awards, rounding out the customer set.

Activity spiked in 2023 and 2024 (13 and 11 awards respectively) after a long period of minimal federal engagement prior to 2023. Only one award faces ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, indicating stable continuation of both VITA and Social Services Block Grant sub-award streams beyond the near-term recompete window.