Baltimore Taxpayers Deserve Answers About KEYS Empowers

The FBI investigation will run its course. Baltimore City should not need federal agents to remind it that taxpayer money requires accountability.

Here we go again.

Another Baltimore nonprofit. Millions of dollars in taxpayer money. A politically connected official. An unfinished project. And now the FBI is involved.

Before anybody gets ahead of themselves, let’s make one thing clear. Nobody should declare someone guilty because federal agents showed up with a search warrant. Mujahid Muhammad, who resigned this week from the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners, deserves the same presumption of innocence as anyone else.

But taxpayers deserve something, too.

They deserve answers.

Mayor Brandon Scott appointed Muhammad to the school board in 2023. He is also the executive director of KEYS Empowers, a Baltimore-area nonprofit. On Wednesday, the FBI confirmed that agents conducted court-authorized law-enforcement activity on Liberty Road, where KEYS operates. Muhammad subsequently resigned from the school board. Federal authorities have not publicly explained what they are investigating.¹

That part of the story belongs to the FBI.

The taxpayer-money part belongs to us.

According to Baltimore City’s own records, KEYS Empowers was allocated $1 million in federal American Rescue Plan money for the KEYS Community Healing Village. The project was supposed to transform a former elementary school into a community center offering broadband access, computer labs, meals, fitness programs, job training, and mental-health services.²

Great idea.

Baltimore needs places like that.

But here’s where taxpayers should start asking questions.

The city reports that it has spent all $1 million. Yet Project Baltimore visited the property and reported that the facility is still under construction four years after the 2022 groundbreaking. A sign reportedly advertised the project as “Coming 2025.”

It is now October 2026.

That doesn’t automatically mean money was stolen, misspent, or improperly handled. Construction projects run late. Costs rise. Plans change.

But when government records say taxpayers have spent the entire $1 million and the public is still looking at an unfinished project, somebody in City Hall should be able to explain exactly what happened.

Then there are the nonprofit’s finances.

Federal filings compiled by ProPublica show KEYS Empowers reporting about $655,000 in revenue in 2020. For 2023, reported revenue jumped to roughly $2.7 million. In 2024, it reported approximately $2 million in revenue and about $2.05 million in expenses.³

The Baltimore Banner has gone further, reporting that KEYS Empowers received more than $4.7 million in government funding during the 2023 and 2024 tax years.⁴

Again, receiving government money isn’t wrongdoing.

But receiving millions in public money means accepting public scrutiny.

That’s the piece Baltimore politicians too often seem to forget. Government grants aren’t Monopoly money. ARPA money wasn’t magically created in a vault underneath City Hall. It came from taxpayers.

Mayor Scott stood with Muhammad at the project’s groundbreaking. His administration awarded the money. His administration had a responsibility to monitor how that money was spent and whether taxpayers got what they were promised.

So let’s ask some simple questions.

Who inspected the project?

What milestones were required before releasing money?

Were invoices reviewed?

Was there an independent audit?

Why is the facility still unfinished?

And what due diligence did the administration perform before directing substantial public funding to the organization?

Those questions don’t require anybody to speculate about what the FBI is investigating.

They require receipts.

This is where Republicans should be relentless. Not reckless. Not accusatory. Relentless.

Taxpayer accountability shouldn’t depend on whether Republicans or Democrats control City Hall. If a Republican administration handed millions to a politically connected nonprofit and years later federal agents searched its offices, Republicans should expect the same scrutiny.

Baltimore residents have been told for decades that more money will solve the city’s problems. More money for schools. More money for violence prevention. More money for nonprofits. More money for programs.

Fine.

Then show us the results.

If KEYS Empowers properly spent every dollar and the Community Healing Village encountered construction delays, put the records on the table and clear it up.

If there are problems, tell taxpayers what went wrong and who was responsible for oversight.

The FBI can determine whether any laws were broken.

Baltimore City should answer the simpler question:

What happened to the taxpayers’ money?

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Endnotes

1. FBI Search and Muhammad’s Resignation – CBS News Baltimore, “Baltimore school commissioner resigns after FBI search of his nonprofit,” October 2, 2026. CBS News Baltimore report

2. The $1 Million KEYS Community Healing Village Project – City of Baltimore, 2025 Annual Recovery Plan Performance Report. City of Baltimore / U.S. Treasury Recovery Plan Report

3. KEYS Empowers Federal Financial Filings – ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, “Keys Empowers Inc.” – ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer — KEYS Empowers

4. Millions in Government Funding

The Baltimore Banner, “Ex-Baltimore school commissioner’s groups got millions in taxpayer money,” October 1, 2026. – The Baltimore Banner investigation

Scott McCann is a Contributor for Direct Line

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