Cudahy : Services Contract Renewed

The Cudahy City Council has extended the contract of the Social Services Agency, a nonprofit organization that distributes food and clothing to the needy. The contract, which expired June 30, will run for 11 months and cost $5,000 a month.

The funds are from the city’s federal Community Development Block Grant and will pay the salaries of the agency director, James Graham, and four staff members, as well as utilities.

When Graham started the agency two years ago, he told the city that the agency would be self-supporting within 18 months, using bingo games to raise money. In early January, the city issued the agency a license to operate a bingo game in a city-owned industrial building where the agency is located.

When questions arose over operating a bingo game in the city building, city officials started negotiating in July with another nonprofit organization to operate a larger bingo game, with the funds being earmarked for the agency. Those talks are continuing, officials said.