City spending records show a Brooklyn Muslim nonprofit that drew headlines earlier this year over controversial merchandise at a community event is now listed as a recipient of multiple City Council discretionary awards in the adopted budget. The Muslim American Society of Brooklyn and Staten Island appears on several lines in the city’s Fiscal 2027 Schedule C, which covers local initiative and youth-discretionary allocations. The listings have resurfaced questions about how thoroughly small council-backed grants are vetted before taxpayer money goes out the door.
NYC Council allocations in the adopted budget
The city's Fiscal 2027 Schedule C names the Muslim American Society of Brooklyn and Staten Island on multiple Department of Youth and Community Development and local-initiative line items backed by Council members, including entries under Santosuosso and Avilés. These entries appear in the city's budget paperwork and spell out specific discretionary awards to the organization, as detailed in the adopted Schedule C. According to NYC Council budget documents, the group is listed for several small youth- and community-program line items.
What reporters say about the January event
Earlier reporting this year described how outside vendors at a Jan. 18 fundraising or thrift-style event at the society’s Brooklyn youth center sold items displaying images of militant figures, a detail first surfaced by other outlets and recapped in more recent coverage. As reported by the New York Post, photos circulating from the event showed merchandise bearing likenesses of prominent militant leaders.
Council reaction and legal review
After those stories ran, Council Speaker Julie Menin said she would seek to block roughly $80,000 in funding "pending an investigation by city lawyers," according to the Post. The same report noted that the Council’s Office of the General Counsel told staff it had found no formal affiliation between the nonprofit and the outside vendor that sold the disputed items. The combination of new budget awards and that legal review has prompted fresh questions from local officials and residents about how discretionary grants are screened.
How much money appears in city records
Individual entries in the adopted Fiscal 2027 Schedule C list separate small awards to the Muslim American Society, including items under Santosuosso and Avilés for youth and community programming. When those DYCD and local-initiative items are added together in the Schedule C, they come to roughly $45,000 in the adopted plan, according to the city's published budget document. The money shows up as multiple targeted discretionary grants rather than a single large contract, per the NYC Council Schedule C.
Next steps and community response
City officials have signaled they will review the situation and, where they deem it necessary, pause or redirect funds while legal staff examine the ties between event organizers and recipient nonprofits. Community leaders and watchdog groups told reporters they are looking for clearer, stricter vetting rules for local discretionary spending to avoid similar surprises in the future. City representatives and nonprofit officials did not immediately offer additional public comment beyond what has already appeared in recent reporting.
