Security breaches: they’re affecting nearly every single business, government organization, and individual person in the U.S. today. And the latest data breach in Michigan showed that local churches are not excused from these threats anymore.

On August 28, it was discovered that hackers infiltrated the system of the Michigan Catholic Conference, a Catholic agency in Lansing that covers payroll processing and employee benefits for businesses across the state. According to theDetroit Free Press, the Michigan Catholic Conference sent letters to more than 10,000 employees on Friday informing them that their personal information had been compromised in the cyber attack.

The company stated that it would pay for a year-long membership to a subscription identity-protection service for each of the employees.

This service provides insurance policies worth up to $1 million, covering everything from lost wages to possible fraudulent charges made on an individual’s stolen card number. The policy even covers the cost of a private investigator, the Royal Oak Patch stated, should someone need these services if they are targeted following the release of their personal information.

As common as security breaches have become in the past few years, cyber analysts have found that this personal information is actually, in many cases, more valuable than credit card numbers; data for a single individual can be packaged and sold on the web, giving buyers the flexibility of targeting a person via multiple platforms.

It’s also the smallest mistakes that companies make, unintentionally, which tend to result in security threats. Something as simple as bundling important company info in one Administrator account — and then locking that account with a weak and predictable password — is responsible for an estimated 80% of all security breaches.

For the Michigan Catholic Conference, the hackers appear to have broken through agency’s computer system firewall and access each employee’s name, Social Security number, birth date, address, and annual salary. The company has already placed new security features into the system so that anyone trying to access the data now will get a series of numbers rather than coherent information.

Residents of Detroit with children who have been diagnosed with autism now have a new resource, thanks to actress Holly Robinson Peete and the foundation she heads with husband and former Detroit Lions quarterback Rodney Peete.

The HollyRod Foundation has funded an updated room, dubbed RJ’s Place, at the Children’s Center in Midtown. The room not only received a cosmetic makeover, but is now outfitted with 30 tablets and software providing games and tools geared toward helping children with autism. The Children’s Center serves 26 children with autism spectrum disorders, all of whom receive one-on-one time with teachers to help with their development.

RJ is the name of the Peetes’ son, who has autism.

“When we found out our son was diagnosed with autism, it was a scary moment,” Peete said at the unveiling of RJ’s Place earlier this month, as reported by the Michigan Chronicle. “There is a lot of unknown territory that comes with a child with mental disabilities. We knew he needed [as much] love and support, if not more, [as] any other child.”

And as she noted, children of color and their families often have fewer resources when it comes to both diagnosing and treating autism.

“Autism is a very prevalent disorder, and in the African American and Latino community our children are being diagnosed three to five years later than in other communities,” she said. “It is…key that we remove the stigma of autism and other mental disorders to educate and address it head on.”

Autism can be reliably diagnosed around age two. Many children with disorders on the autism spectrum appear to be developing normally until the age of 18 or 24 months, when they suddenly stop gaining new skills or lose the ones they once had.

RJ was diagnosed when he was three, and doctors said he would likely never speak again. With support, however, he did — he even spoke at the event.

He also took time to read My Brother Charlie, a book inspired by his story and co-written by his mother and sister, to some of the children in attendance at the unveiling.

UPDATED 8/21/20

In the Corktown district downtown, the old and new Detroit sit side by side.

Quicken Loans Inc. opened a high-tech new server center in Corktown at the end of June. Inside, the building is home to 400 servers, two power generators creating 2.5 megawatts of energy, and modern amenities like sleeping pods. Outside, the building features large panes of glass walls and refurbished metal siding.

“We’re still connected to downtown and it’s in Detroit, where we made a commitment to,” said Adam McLaughlin, Quicken director of IT.

But around the corner you’ll find one of the oldest structures in all of Detroit — a plain, over-sized shed that once played a humble role in the birth of the labor movement. In modern times, 77% of Americans just use sheds for storing garden tools, but in the 1840s this Corktown building housed Irish immigrants and laborers. As many as 10 laborers were stuffed into a single room in this rundown shed.

In the mornings, they would go to work to one of Detroit’s many factories. Now, more than 150 years later, a neighborhood group called the Corktown Experience is working to save the historic building as a cultural site.

“We are dedicated to making it respectful of the neighborhood, to enhance education about the neighborhood’s history and make it a gathering place for the community,” said Tim McKay, president of the Corktown Experience. “We have the opportunity to do this project right, without it being dull…It’s an economic development tool that will utilize the history of Corktown to attract business and tourists.”

Corktown has been undergoing a sudden surge in redevelopment and interest over the past few years, attracting both businesses like Quicken and hip young residents to its cultural scene, a far cry from its origins as a home for factory workers.

“This neighborhood is getting its time to shine again,” said Socrates Apallas, board member of the Corktown Residents and Business Association. “A rebirth, almost.”

After weathering a bankruptcy in 2013, Detroit has recently been reborn as leaner and ready for development. With investments for new construction rolling in, led by Detroit’s own Dan Gilbert, the site of old run down structures next to brand new commercial property space is not unusual. Detroit has faced a property reckoning in recent years. With the sudden population boom happening when the auto industry took off after World War II and the even more sudden population retraction after the plants started to close, many buildings, and even neighborhoods, have been left dormant for years. 

In order to bring people back downtown, building premises to rent has been a high priority. Having safe and modern buildings near amenities is critical to enticing young people to repopulate Detroit. Investing in commercial property space is bringing new business downtown and building premises to rent provides living space for a whole new generation of Detroiters. Commercial builders and fresh investment has been key to Detroit’s recent rebirth.

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