Category: Brandpoint Business & Finance

2026-09-23T07:19:00

(BPT) – Parenting today isn’t about following a single, rigid rulebook — it’s about adaptability. As families celebrate National Family Day this fall, modern parents are moving away from the traditional one-size-fits-all parenting methods of the past in favor of fluid strategies tailored to their child’s unique needs and personalities. However, while parenting styles may change, the one thing that remains constant is that families thrive when supported by their chosen village.

Parents are getting creative when it comes to selecting a parenting approach

According to survey data from the Kiddie Academy^® brand, a third-generation family-owned provider of educational child care, 7 in 10 parents are choosing parenting styles based on what their child needs, rather than relying on a single method. In fact, nearly 23% of surveyed parents are taking a completely different approach from how they were raised, blending elements that span from “dolphin” to free-range parenting. Today’s moms and dads work collaboratively with their kids and are moving away from traditional expectations of strict obedience or sink-or-swim independence. Ultimately, this modern approach prioritizes the richness of the childhood experience and the holistic well-being of the child, with parents actively taking ownership of that outcome.

Gen Z parents, in particular, are using a mix of styles focused on prioritizing real-world consequences, healing generational trauma and treating each child as a unique individual, according to the research.

Three styles shaping modern homes

“Dolphin parents” seek to provide guidelines rather than strict rules, according to Dr. Shimi Kang’s book, “The Dolphin Way.” The intent is to foster self-sufficiency and social skills without the stress. This parenting style is collaborative and fluid.

Free-range parenting focuses on giving children lots of freedom and white space to problem solve without hovering — it’s the opposite of helicopter parenting and is thought to build self-reliance and independence in children. Furthermore, free-range parenting encourages kids to get outside and explore, which aligns with the “going analog” parenting trend, advocating physical, tactile and offline activities.

“CEO parenting” takes a corporate approach to child rearing by hiring a team of specialists to take over mundane tasks and milestone developmental moments like potty training. A recent Wall Street Journal article sheds light on this niche parenting approach emerging among a subset of wealthy families. They are spending extra on services like nannies, baby chefs and tutors in order to free up time to make “high-impact, core memories.”

Connecting the home approach to early education

Modern parenting styles may adapt and evolve, but families thrive when they have a consistent foundation. Research shows that almost 4 in 5 parents say it’s important that their child’s early education provider use a similar approach to what they do at home.

A quality child care team doesn’t replace a family’s style — it complements it. Whether a home leans into free-range exploration, dolphin-style collaboration, or structured CEO efficiency, providers like Kiddie Academy serve as an extension of the family village by offering a flexible, nurturing environment that reinforces those core values.

Strengthening the family unit

With 54% of full-time working parents struggling to balance job and family responsibilities, according to a Pew Research Center survey, a trusted child care partner helps lift the everyday pressure.

“Balancing a family requires significant time and effort,” said Joy Turner, chief academic officer for Kiddie Academy. “When parents lean on a network of family, friends or reliable high-quality child care, it reduces their stress and creates opportunities to simply enjoy being parents.”

This National Family Day, remember there is no single right way to parent. Whatever approach works for your home, having a trusted partner in your child’s early education gives your family the freedom to focus on what matters most: building strong bonds, making core memories and growing together.

2026-09-17T08:01:00

(BPT) – By Dorene Mills, Hannaford Supermarkets Chef

Back-to-school season brings busier calendars, tighter routines and more decisions — all while families are looking for ways to stretch their grocery budgets. Getting fresh, nutritious meals on the table doesn’t have to take hours in the kitchen or require going over budget on your weekly shop.

As a mom of two, here are a few of my favorite tips to simplify your meal planning, so eating well on busy weeknights is both easy and affordable.

1. Stretch one protein across multiple meals

A simple way to stretch your budget and simplify meal planning is to choose a versatile protein that can serve as the foundation for several dinners.

For example, proteins such as chicken, turkey, eggs, beans and lentils serve as blank canvases for different flavor profiles. Plus, they can easily adapt to tacos, pasta dishes, sandwiches and meal-prep bowls. Once you’ve picked your proteins, pair them with affordable vegetables, grains or legumes to create satisfying, delicious meals for the whole family throughout the week.

2. Prioritize purchasing store brand products

Did you know that store brand products typically cost 25-30% less than their name brand counterparts? By choosing store brand products, you can save on everyday staples and pantry essentials without compromising on quality.

The next time you shop, be sure to keep an eye out for the wide selection of Hannaford brand items throughout the store. They all deliver national brand quality at affordable prices, guaranteed. Focus on small, strategic swaps throughout the cart that can create meaningful savings without changing the overall meal, like pasta, rice, canned goods, dairy products and frozen foods.

Savings secret: When you sign up for My Hannaford Rewards, you’ll earn rewards on all store brand purchases and get personalized coupons to use on your next shop. It’s easy!

3. Shop your kitchen first and weekly sales second

Have you ever bought another can of black beans only to find that you already had four cans tucked in the back corner of your pantry? You can avoid unnecessary purchases like this by checking your refrigerator, freezer and pantry before making a grocery list.

Once you know what items you really need, look for sales on versatile ingredients and plan how each purchase will be used to cut down on food waste and get more value from every grocery trip.

Savings secret: You can make shopping for deals easier by using Hannaford.com or the Hannaford app. From home or the office, you can browse weekly sales and clip digital coupons ahead of your next shop. You can also use Hannaford To Go to build your cart around the best offers and schedule a convenient pickup time that fits into your busy schedule. Using the past purchases feature can also create budget consistency week over week.

4. Use time savers and convenience foods strategically

Don’t overlook ready-made meals and foods! Convenience foods are great budget tools that can help prevent those more expensive last-minute takeout orders. Plus, balancing convenient items like ready-to-heat chicken potpie or a ready-to-cook stir-fry kit with affordable staples already at home can help keep the overall meal cost manageable and save time.

5. Plan portions to reduce food waste

Food waste is a sneaky drain on your grocery budget. The good news is that there are some ways you can reduce waste and keep more money in your pocket.

First, consider how many people each meal needs to serve before purchasing ingredients or deciding how much to prepare. Knowing the portion size for each meal can keep you from overspending and throwing out uneaten food.

Next, freeze extra proteins, produce and prepared foods before they spoil. Make sure to divide them into meal-size portions for future use, so you know exactly how many people you can feed and speed up meal prep.

Finally, give leftovers a specific role in the weekly meal plan. Whether they become lunch the next day or are transformed into a different dinner, it’s a delicious and simple way to prevent food waste.

Get the most value out of every grocery trip

Remember, affordability isn’t necessarily about buying the cheapest thing, and it doesn’t require sacrificing flavor, nutrition or convenience either. By planning ahead, making thoughtful substitutions and choosing ingredients that can work across several meals, families can spend more intentionally and approach busy school nights with greater confidence. For more shopping tips and affordable meal solutions, visit Hannaford.com.

2026-09-15T05:01:00

(BPT) – Key takeaways:

• Data from Florida Realtors^® shows the housing market is stabilizing.
• Sustained sales, balancing inventory and steady pricing give buyers time to weigh options.
• Homebuyers and Realtors^® can find reliable data in reports from Florida Realtors^®, with monthly housing reports led by Chief Economist Dr. Brad O’Connor.
• Making a decision about buying a home is highly personal and can benefit from local expertise and guidance of a Realtor^®.

After years of dramatic pandemic-era ups and downs and the transition period that followed, the 2026 Florida housing market has shown clear signs of stabilizing. According to data from Florida Realtors^®, led by Chief Economist Brad O’Connor, Ph.D., today’s market is becoming more balanced and predictable, bringing welcome news to homebuyers trying to make sense of mixed market signals.

“It’s easy to focus on a single month’s numbers, but headline statistics don’t always tell the real story,” said O’Connor. “Dramatic percentage swings can obscure the bigger picture. Looking at longer-term trends, with the proper context, provides a clearer view of current market conditions.”

Here’s a look at what’s really going on with Florida real estate today.

What are signs of a stable housing market?

The pandemic-era real estate surge was followed by a period of declining sales as the market adjusted, revealing a market in transition. Today’s story is different: a steadier, more predictable rhythm, supported by more than 10 months of:

• Sustained year-over-year increases in closed sales
• Inventory continuing to normalize
• Pricing holding steady

Recent data reinforces those longer-term trends. According to Florida Realtors^®, the number of total statewide existing single-family home sales in July was up 5% from the previous year, with existing condo-townhouse sales also up for the 11th straight month. Single-family home median sale prices were up 3.7% year-over-year. In another welcome sign, condo/townhouse median prices, which have seen challenges in recent years, are holding steady, remaining consistent with July 2025.

New pending sales and pending inventory have consistently risen year over year for single-family homes and condos/townhouses, as well, suggesting more positive activity ahead.

2026-09-14T08:01:01

(BPT) – By Ali Tager, Vice President of External Affairs, National Cryptocurrency Association

Sixty-seven million Americans, or one in four adults, now hold crypto. Despite crypto’s established presence, there’s still misinformation and confusion about the technology.

Everyday people and businesses are using these digital tools for practical, real-world purposes like sending money to friends and family, accepting payments, donating to charity, or paying for goods and services.

Our latest research shows that crypto is becoming mainstream, moving from a novel concept into an everyday financial tool.

1. Crypto is being adopted by everyday Americans

Crypto isn’t just for tech bros or the financial elite. Instead, holders reflect the everyday American in a variety of ways:

• Nearly a quarter of holders make $75,000 or less per year
• They are just as likely to work in construction as in technology
• 18% of new holders are between 18 and 24 years old, and 28% are 55 or older
• Women account for 42% of new crypto holders

Karin is one of those women. She was an unbanked, middle-class housewife who was financially cut-off, until she taught herself to trade crypto. She used crypto to rebuild her finances and secure a future for herself and her children. Crypto became a lifeline for her, and helped her achieve financial sovereignty and freedom. Traditional financial systems hadn’t worked for her, but crypto did.

2. Crypto supports financial independence

For millions of Americans, crypto is a practical tool that fits directly into daily life. More than half of holders say using digital assets has increased their financial independence, including Jake, a small business owner in California.

His dream was to manage his businesses and have time to spend with his family. With crypto, he can access his finances whenever, wherever. Crypto gave him more autonomy over his own life and finances, and he treats it as part of the future he’s building for his kids.

Jake isn’t alone. For many holders, it comes down to basic convenience and personal agency.

3. The crypto industry is driving broader economic growth

Crypto supports approximately 232,000 jobs across the U.S., spanning customer service, trucking, healthcare and more. Crypto jobs are creating $55 billion in economic activity and $31 billion in worker income each year. When more people can fully participate in financial systems, more economic activity is created for individuals, local businesses and communities.

Clayton, a master plumber in Texas, runs his family’s 80-year-old company. After doing his own research over 10 years ago, he decided to enter the crypto space. Over time, crypto naturally became integrated into his company, and he now accepts it alongside cards, checks and cash. Offering crypto at checkout gives customers more choice, just like the card reader did years ago.

4. Clear education is essential for the future

Crypto has become a gateway into financial literacy more broadly. More than half of holders cited learning and personal growth as a benefit, up from 45% the year before — a growing signal that engaging with crypto is teaching people more about their finances overall. Expanding plain-language educational resources and practical learning tools is essential to lowering these hurdles, demystifying the technology, and empowering everyday individuals to participate in the digital economy with confidence.

5. Regulatory clarity and consumer protection

Alongside accessible education, establishing smart consumer safeguards will be fundamental to building long-term trust, safety and stability in digital finance. Nearly three-quarters of current holders (73%) believe it’s important for the U.S. to become the global leader in crypto. The same number want stronger consumer protections measures for people investing in, holding or using crypto. American crypto holders want to navigate digital asset tools safely, securely and transparently, with 71% of today’s holders asking for comprehensive legislation that addresses gaps in current law.

Establishing thoughtful, common-sense frameworks provides the structural clarity needed to protect consumers while encouraging responsible innovation.

How to learn more about crypto

NCA helps make sense of crypto by sharing real stories from everyday people and small businesses from across the country, providing educational resources, and offering guidance and support.

If you’re ready to learn more, explore our free guides, educational tools and real-world stories at NCA.org/resources.

2026-09-02T18:31:00

(BPT) – By Park Won-jae, head of IR Division at LG Electronics

The role of investor relations extends beyond communicating a company’s financial and operating performance. It also involves articulating the new opportunities the company is positioned to capture amid shifts across industries, and clearly explaining how it plans to translate those opportunities into tangible business results. Through this work, IR helps enhance enterprise value.

As the head of the Investor Relations (IR) Division at LG Electronics, I have met with global investors and analysts and observed a clear shift in how they view LG Electronics. Early in our business transformation, discussions focused largely on demand and profitability in traditional businesses such as home appliances. More recently, as attention to physical AI has increased, interest has turned toward our growth areas: AI Data Center (AIDC) cooling, smart factories, robotics and vehicle solutions.

Morgan Stanley’s recently published report, LG Trio: Next Growth Chapter, reflects this evolving market perspective. Rather than assessing LG affiliates by individual industries — home appliances, displays and optical components — the report frames LG in the context of physical AI and AI’s expansion into the physical world.

Building Physical AI on Decades of Experience

At LG, we see physical AI as a natural extension of the capabilities we have built over decades and a significant opportunity to turn those capabilities into new drivers of growth.

In the physical AI era, AI model performance is only part of the equation. Success will also depend on the ability to deploy and operate AI reliably across diverse environments. From this perspective, LG Electronics’ 70 years of business experience spanning homes, commercial environments and industrial sites, combined with the real-world data accumulated across these spaces, provide a powerful foundation for turning physical AI into practical, scalable solutions.

Across these businesses, we are already extending our capabilities into new applications. Our manufacturing expertise supports smart factory and robotics solutions, while more than 60 years of compressor and motor technology informs robotic actuators, and our heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) thermal management capabilities contribute to AIDC cooling.

Building on these capabilities, Morgan Stanley sees LG Electronics as playing the role of a “Physical AI Orchestrator” within the broader One LG ecosystem. In this role, we bring together LG Innotek’s sensing technologies, LG Display’s visual experience expertise, LG Energy Solution’s battery technologies, LG CNS’s systems integration capabilities and LG AI Research’s foundational AI technologies to create AI business synergies across the LG Group.

The Next Phase of Our Physical AI Strategy

However, strong technology and large addressable markets alone are insufficient. What capital markets ultimately assess is a company’s ability to commercialize those strengths and generate sustainable earnings. Our physical AI roadmap spans both current business opportunities and the capabilities required for future applications.

In the home, we are strengthening our AI Home business leadership through AI-enabled appliances and subscription and care services. In industrial settings, we are expanding the smart factory solutions order pipeline by combining AI and robotics. We are also applying our HVAC expertise to grow our AIDC cooling business and expect to begin full-scale actuator production within the year for use in humanoid robots.

The LG Data Factory, currently under construction, is being built to support the next phases of this strategy. It will serve as a hub for our physical AI data flywheel, training and refining our Robot Foundation Model (RFM) with real-world data and validating it in robot applications. This cycle of data, model and robot-performance improvement is intended to expand our robot business from industrial and commercial solutions into residential applications.

Turning Transformation Into Value

We have always looked to evolve our portfolio with changing market conditions. Alongside our core home appliance competitiveness, we have expanded our B2B presence through vehicle solutions and HVAC, while developing non-hardware businesses including subscriptions and webOS. B2B accounted for 36% of our revenue mix as of Q2 2026, and we aim to increase this share to approximately 45% by 2030.

As AI reshapes industries, physical AI represents the next phase of our portfolio evolution. At LG, we are ready to meet the challenge by building on our established capabilities and investing in emerging business areas that can support long-term growth.

Morgan Stanley’s report is significant because it illustrates the market’s view of our transformation and growth potential. Going forward, we will continue to use our IR activities to show how our business innovation and tangible results strengthen LG’s long-term investment case.

2026-08-31T07:01:03

(BPT) – For many veterans with disabilities, service to the nation does not end when active duty ends. It continues through civilian roles that support federal missions, strengthen domestic production and contribute to military readiness.

The transition from military service to civilian employment can be challenging, as veterans often leave structured environments and must adjust to new workplaces while seeking meaningful, stable careers. Veterans with service-related disabilities often face additional barriers to employment. They also make up a growing share of today’s veterans: Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 34% had service-related disabilities in 2025, compared with 20% in 2015. For many of these veterans, employment plays a central role in successful reintegration and long-term well-being.

Through the AbilityOne^® Program and SourceAmerica’s nationwide network, veterans with disabilities gain access to employment opportunities that connect their skills and experience to government needs. More than 300 nonprofit agencies in the network employ more than 37,400 people with disabilities across the country, including more than 2,700 veterans with disabilities.

These jobs enable veterans to continue contributing to the nation in ways that reflect the discipline, training and mission focus developed during military service while supporting economic independence and stability.

For veterans with disabilities, AbilityOne contracts create pathways into roles that mirror the purpose-driven nature of military service. These positions support federal agencies and military installations through domestic manufacturing, IT services, logistics, facilities support and other essential services.

Phoenix is one such nonprofit that offers veterans and other individuals with disabilities the opportunity to support federal agencies and mission-critical operations. Phoenix employees manufacture products that support the U.S. military, including aircraft safety belts, single-point release harnesses, fire blankets and burial flags.

Employees with disabilities at Phoenix manufacture American flags for Veterans Affairs

As workforce shortages persist nationwide, individuals with disabilities, including veterans, remain an underutilized part of the labor force. The unemployment rate for people with disabilities is more than twice that of people without disabilities, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Expanding employment pathways for veterans with disabilities can help address workforce gaps while strengthening capacity across sectors.

Veterans bring teamwork, leadership, technical training, reliability and mission-focused problem-solving to civilian roles. Through the expansion of new technologies, workplace accommodations and flexible job design, veterans with disabilities excel in modern workplaces.

Andres Rugerio is one example of the work ethic, leadership and technical expertise that veterans bring to the job market. A veteran with a service-related disability, he serves as a Tier 2 help desk analyst with InspiriTec, a nonprofit in SourceAmerica’s network. After serving 25 years in the U.S. Army, he transitioned into civilian employment through the AbilityOne Program. Today, he supports the Defense Manpower Data Center Support Center at Fort Knox, where he helps manage technical operations for more than 2.8 million members of the military community.

Veteran Andres Rugerio, Tier 2 help desk analyst at InspiriTec, now supports U.S. military bases through technical operations

Veteran employment, domestic manufacturing and workforce development are closely linked. Strengthening employment pathways for veterans with disabilities supports broader goals related to economic resilience, supply chain stability and federal mission readiness.

The AbilityOne Program contributes directly to these priorities. According to current data, 89% of Procurement List items from SourceAmerica’s network are wholly made in America, and 96% are either made in America or compliant with Buy American Act or the Trade Agreements Act. The Program also generates an estimated $2.66 in return for every $1 spent on administration and reduces federal benefit program costs by approximately $191 million annually. Through federal procurement, AbilityOne provides an established mechanism for connecting workforce needs with capable workers, including veterans with disabilities, while supporting domestic production and federal operational requirements.

For many veterans with disabilities, service continues long after active duty ends. Through employment in SourceAmerica’s network, they contribute to the production of goods and services that support federal agencies, strengthen communities and reinforce national preparedness. America is strongest when those who have served are able to continue contributing their skills and experience in meaningful ways.

North Bay Industries employee Chris Huntley manufactures fully Made in America flags for Veterans Affairs

Learn more about the difference veterans with disabilities are making at https://AmericaIsMadeHere.org.

The mention of the U.S. Government in this article does not imply endorsement by the government of the product or service provided by the nonprofit agency to the government.

2026-08-26T07:01:00

(BPT) – Key takeaways

• Despite the claim that AI is coming for entry-level jobs, now is one of the most exciting times to start a career.
• AI is changing entry-level tasks, not eliminating the need for entry-level roles.
• Organizations should focus on rebuilding what a first job looks like in the evolving world of work.
• Companies like Cognizant are building the training infrastructure to support entry-level workers in the AI era.

By Kathy Diaz, Chief People Officer, Cognizant

Every week brings another story about how AI is coming for entry-level jobs. The principle seems logical: AI does the traditional grunt work, so the first rung of the ladder disappears.

What’s actually happening is more nuanced — and far more promising — than the headlines suggest.

For graduates who understand what is changing, this may be one of the most exciting moments in recent memory to begin a career.

The misconception: Entry-level jobs are less valuable with AI

AI is changing entry-level tasks, not eliminating the need for entry-level roles. That’s an important distinction. A recent Cognizant and Pearson study found that 94% of HR leaders expect AI to create new entry-level roles in the next five years.

For decades, entry-level tasks have been administrative: gather information, build presentations, produce reports. It was an apprenticeship model — you had to earn the right to contribute by first proving you could handle the fundamentals. AI now handles much of that initial legwork in seconds.

This opens the door to more meaningful work earlier in a career. Today’s entry-level tasks are elevated: designing AI-enabled workflows, evaluating the quality of AI outputs or identifying opportunities to improve how work gets done.

That means early-career talent can contribute to work closer to the core problems a business is trying to solve, making them even more valuable to organizations.

Many organizations have not yet redesigned early-career jobs

The truth is many entry-level roles are disappearing because companies have yet to redefine them. Freezing campus hiring is shortsighted. What really needs to be done is rebuilding what a first job looks like as the world of work continues to evolve.

Cognizant is rewriting the early-career path. Our Frontier Center of Excellence is defining what AI-era roles require, building the training infrastructure to support them, and giving campus talent a structured path into roles like Frontier Certified Engineer and Frontier Business Operator. These roles are designed around urgent enterprise needs, enabled by AI: redesigning processes, improving operations and turning AI capability into measurable business value.

To keep pace with a world where skills evolve continuously, we have reimagined learning itself. Skillspring, our proprietary AI-native learning platform, continuously senses changing role requirements and connects talent with personalized learning to help them stay ready for frontier work.

And we’re backing this with hiring at scale. Cognizant onboarded 25,000 campus graduates globally in 2025 and is on track to hire more this year, at a time when plenty of others have pulled back.

The early-career skills that have become more valuable

Graduates today have a massive advantage as the first AI-native generation. After 20-plus years of continuous education, they are uniquely prepared to thrive in a world where continuous learning is the norm. And, they bring the entrepreneurial hunger to challenge assumptions and create new ways of doing things.

They also still have plenty to learn. In the Cognizant and Pearson study, 97% of HR leaders said human-centered skills matter more than ever in the AI era, while 67% said they value liberal arts degrees more than they used to because of the interdisciplinary thinking, contextual reasoning and communication they can bring.

2026-08-24T08:01:00

(BPT) – Beyond home and the workplace, people need spaces to gather, meet new people and just hang out. These are known as “third places”: public parks, libraries and community centers, plus retail spaces, like coffee shops, bookstores and restaurants, and downtowns and main streets where people can socialize.

Many Americans today feel more lonely and isolated, navigating increased disconnection caused by screens and social media, plus cultural shifts that began during COVID. Nearly half of Americans (44%) say there’s no local coffee shop, bar, restaurant or park they visit regularly, and only 1 in 4 who live near potential gathering spots go there weekly.

Survey data shows that neighborhoods with multiple third places report higher levels of sociability. People who interact with neighbors at regular community spots are more likely to feel a sense of connection in their communities. Nearly half the residents in those communities report talking with someone they didn’t know well at least once monthly, according to the American Community Life Survey. That’s nearly twice as high as those living in areas without many third places.

These third places improve neighborhood cohesion and give people a reason to cross paths with those from different walks of life. Downtowns are one of the clearest examples of this in action. A thriving main street is a cluster of third places. The coffee shop, the bookstore, the diner, the plaza that hosts festivals. These main streets give people a reason to linger, run into a neighbor or strike up a conversation.

Today, states like Michigan are supporting efforts to nurture and create these crucial spaces and downtowns.

Community revitalization drives impact

Revitalization projects often showcase their environmental or safety benefits first, but their effect on local businesses is just as significant and often harder to quantify. Creating third places pays off not only in residents’ health and quality of life but also in increased foot traffic and local reactivation.

Because community development is one of the clearest paths to creating more third places and opportunities for human connection, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) offers numerous programs and grants toward this goal that support the unique vision of each community and empower local residents to design and implement solutions that build vibrant, diverse and resilient downtowns.

Creating opportunities for main street

Across Michigan, 24 communities are working through the Michigan Main Street program to revive their commercial districts, and the results show up in both foot traffic and investment dollars. Downtown Lansing has welcomed 116 new businesses and over $123 million in private investment since 2010. Grand Haven has drawn nearly $30 million in private investment and 110 new businesses since 2005. And in Howell, a downtown revitalization effort logged more than 62,000 volunteer hours and earned recognition as USA Today’s Best Main Street in 2024.

The results extend well beyond balance sheets. When a downtown becomes a place worth visiting again, residents show up, filling storefronts and connecting with one another.

Building up main street businesses

Small businesses are often what turn a storefront into a third place, the coffee shop or bakery where people linger, not just transact. The MEDC’s Match on Main program provides reimbursement-based grant funding of up to $25,000 per project to support new and expanding place-based small businesses.

Doozers, a popular bakery in downtown Ishpeming, restored a space in the historic Gossard Building with the support of a Match on Main grant, turning a home-based cookie-making venture into a bustling spot for people of all ages to hang out and enjoy sweet treats, complete with a kids’ play area.

“It’s nice having a third space,” said the bakery’s owner Claire Morgan-Heredia. “When I grew up, I went to the library six days a week and just hung out there or a coffee shop. We wanted to add to the community with our space. A variety of third spaces is good, so that the community foundation remains strong.”

Community spaces as third places

Not every third place is a business. Some are simply public: a park bench, a plaza, a farmers market stall. The Public Spaces Community Places program, created in partnership with the Michigan Municipal League, matches community crowdfunding campaigns dollar-for-dollar up to $50,000 for projects like parks, plazas, markets and other public gathering spaces. The match kicks in only after the community has met the project’s fundraising goal.

Since 2014, this program has:

• Helped fund 421 projects across Michigan, backed by over 77,000 community members.
• Crowdfunded more than $16.9 million, leading to $14.7 million in matched funding.
• Created or redeveloped 25.9 million square feet of public spaces.

In St. Johns, the Fantasy Forest crowdfunding project transformed a beloved aging playground to be universally accessible, providing freedom of play to all children and families. Meanwhile, in Alpena, crowdfunding for the Besser Museum’s Discover Northeast Michigan History Exhibit turned an outdated exhibit space into an experience that takes visitors from the Big Bang to Big Industry, providing opportunities to learn about Northeast Michigan’s heritage in a family-friendly environment.

Through programs like Public Spaces Community Places, communities and the MEDC are equally invested in creating, improving and transforming spaces for all to enjoy.

With investments like these, states like Michigan are helping to support more opportunities for community connection and business development. Learn more about ways revitalization projects can support thriving communities through third places at MichiganBusiness.org.

2026-08-24T05:01:00

(BPT) – Key takeaways

• The vulnerabilities inside legacy systems of large organizations are no longer hidden.
• While Y2K forced organizations to confront decades of accumulated code, frontier AI is forcing the same reckoning.
• The organizations responding fastest are the ones that have built the capacity to correct vulnerabilities at machine speed.

You have a password manager, or you don’t. You use two-factor authentication on some accounts but not others. You read the breach notification email, change the password and move on. Most of us trust that the systems we depend on (our banks, our health records, our social platforms, our employers) are doing the work in the background.

But they’re not. Or rather, they can’t anymore. A new generation of artificial intelligence, capable of scanning entire enterprise estates in hours, has fundamentally changed the problem. The vulnerabilities buried inside legacy systems for decades, the technical debt that every large organization carries, are no longer hidden. To anyone with access to the right models, these flaws are thrown into sharp relief. The audit that used to take weeks now takes hours, and the people tasked with defending these systems are no longer the ones finding the vulnerabilities first.

This is what some in the industry describe as a new Y2K moment, though the comparison is less about the threat than the reckoning it forces. Y2K had a known deadline, a known fix, and years of coordinated global response. Engineers went in to patch one thing (the date field) and discovered a catastrophe’s worth of brittle, tangled code no one fully understood. The frontier AI moment offers no such certainty.

The defining feature of this moment is a structural mismatch: offense now moves at machine speed while defense still moves at the speed of human review and scheduled maintenance. The deadline is unclear, the scope expands faster than fixes can be deployed, and the response is being navigated company by company. The true parallel is that both moments expose the cost of deferred modernization. Y2K forced organizations to look honestly at decades of accumulated code. This time, adversaries are running the audit in real time.

The new bottleneck in threat detection

For all the urgency the moment demands, the organizations responding fastest are not the ones with the best threat detection. They are the ones with the capacity to remediate vulnerabilities at machine speed.

Detection has stopped being the constraint. A good security team with the right tools can find vulnerabilities in hours. What determines survival is what happens next: the ability to prioritize, patch, and deploy fixes faster than threats accumulate. Remediation capacity is now the bottleneck. When discovery outpaces repair, the backlog of known but unpatched flaws grows faster than teams can close it, and that patch queue itself becomes the attack surface: a published list of openings an adversary can work through while defenders wait for a maintenance window. Closing that remediation-velocity gap is the capability that now separates resilient organizations from exposed ones. That capacity is not something you buy from a single vendor. It requires orchestrating across the stack: linking defense, intelligence, and modernization at scale.

The same forcing function that has made security a board-level concern is reopening conversations about modernization that have stalled for years. In recent Cognizant research, 73% of Global 2000 leaders identified cybersecurity as a major driver of legacy modernization, the joint-highest rating alongside reducing operating costs.[1] For two decades, the case for enterprise modernization was made in the language of efficiency, cost, and competitive advantage. These arguments were easy to resist. Like patching your roof before a storm hits, the work that prevents catastrophe rarely feels urgent until the danger is right in front of you.

The frontier AI moment is changing that calculation. The cost of waiting is no longer abstract. It’s measurable and increasingly visible in the form of a continuously expanding attack surface that legacy systems cannot defend. What was once a productivity argument is now a survival argument. And leaders know they are behind. Half of Global 2000 leaders say the current pace of progress in updating defense systems is not yet fast enough.[1]

What does frontier AI modernization look like now?

In the age of frontier AI, modernization is no longer a program run alongside cybersecurity. It is cybersecurity, expressed at the architectural level. Each vulnerability is a symptom; the aging architecture that let it persist is the underlying condition. Patching the symptom without modernizing the architecture leaves the condition in place, which is why remediation at scale and modernization are the same work.

Three patterns are emerging across organizations moving fastest. The first is the systematic retirement of legacy systems that cannot be defended at scale. Unsupported platforms are not merely operational risks; they are mapped terrain for adversaries. The second is the embedding of zero-trust principles (identity, segmentation, encryption) as platform fundamentals rather than incremental fixes. The third is the deliberate design of operations that can withstand AI-era threats, including the inventories, baselines, and governance frameworks autonomous systems require.

These aren’t new ideas. What is new is that the frontier threat has made them unavoidable. The scope of the problem is forcing the scope of the solution. No single company, no product vendor, no single-service firm, can orchestrate this alone. Closing the remediation-velocity gap means making endpoint defense, data security, threat intelligence, incident response, and architectural modernization work as one system, with governance holding throughout. A point tool secures its own layer; only an orchestrating partner can engineer the whole. It is the work of an AI builder: the party that integrates capability across an ecosystem and embeds it into how an enterprise actually operates.

In financial services, AI-driven defense systems now detect and respond to anomalous activity in milliseconds, often before customers notice anything unusual. In healthcare, modernized claims platforms protect patient data while accelerating reimbursement. In retail and logistics, architectures built for security by design allow responsive experiences without exposing underlying systems to risk.

None of this is what most consumers think about when they tap a card or open an app. But it is the reason the experience works.

Recognizing threat in digital transformation

The frontier AI moment is not ultimately about cybersecurity. It is about how the digital economy must be rebuilt to remain trustworthy in a faster and more contested environment.

Y2K was a test run. It taught a generation of leaders that infrastructure matters, that technical debt comes due, and that coordinated effort can avert catastrophe. The frontier era is the real thing. The organizations that come through it well will be the ones that recognize the threat as also the moment.

The work is happening. Most people will never see it. That is the point. But the window to do it is not open indefinitely. The enterprises that close the gap before their adversaries reach parity are the ones that will define trust in the decade ahead.

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[1] Cognizant, “Legacy modernization and the AI timeline.” Available at: cognizant.com/us/en/insights/insights-blog/legacy-modernization-mandate-ai-timeline