Maryland senators withdraw $4M funding requests for two Baltimore nonprofits under scrutiny

Maryland's U.S. senators, Angela Alsobrooks and Chris Van Hollen, initially sought $4 million in federal funding for two Baltimore nonprofits, KEYS Empowers and the North East Housing Initiative (NEHI), according to FOX45 Baltimore.

Both nonprofits have recently come under scrutiny for their financial practices. KEYS Empowers was raided by the FBI last month, and its executive director resigned from the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners shortly after. The Maryland Office of the Inspector General Health found that KEYS Empowers needed to return over $400,000 to the state due to overfunding and record discrepancies.

Van Hollen requested $1 million for NEHI, which is also facing financial problems, including a federal investigation involving a cryptocurrency donation, federal tax liens, and lawsuits over alleged debts totaling millions of dollars, FOX45 Baltimore reported.

Following investigative reports by Project Baltimore and Spotlight on Maryland, both senators withdrew their funding requests before Congress approved the fiscal 2027 budget. It remains unclear how thoroughly nonprofits are vetted before receiving federal funding.