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ALA Leads Efforts to Assist Members
As the global effect of COVID-19 continues to disrupt our personal well-being and business operations, my hope is that all of the ALA and lighting industry families are safe and have good health. I believe it’s important that we approach this time of uncertainty with a sense of calm and responsibility – for our families, colleagues, and our members. ALA has been committed to offering free training and resources, providing information to assist you in directing you to the government resources available to small businesses in the U.S. and Canada, and staying on the forefront of the growth opportunities for the connected home.
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Eric Jacobson, CAE
President & CEO
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Free Training
ALA instituted free training including webinars, recorded webinars, and our Lighting Associate program, all available online. Member utilization has been high.
Lighting Associate
Over 920 member employees have taken advantage of the free Lighting Associate (LA) program. That is over $320,000 of free training delivered to ALA members. To access the courses, click Lighting Associate, go to Options, select Bundle, then View Cart, and enter your information followed by the coupon code: laspecialpromo (case sensitive). This will give each individual member user access to all 10 LA courses (normally $350) at no charge.
Live webinars
Members may participate in ALA’s upcoming webinars, by selecting Live Training. Log in/create account and add the webinar to your cart at no cost. Additionally, if you did not register for the live presentation of "Retailing During COVID 19," you can access the recorded webinar here or see any of the retailing tips and resources from Bob Phibbs here.
Upcoming webinars:
- April 23 - Peter Romaniello, "When and Where to Use Tunable White Lighting"
- April 30 - Alek Baker, IES, "The Real Life of LEDs"
Free on-demand webinars
As has always been the case, ALA’s library of on-demand webinars remains free to members. To access the on-demand webinars, go to Free Training and use code: 2020training (case sensitive). This benefit is thanks to our on-demand webinar sponsors:
- Acuity Brands
- Intertek
- Lutron Electronics
To participate in the courses and webinars, again at no charge, simply go to ALAMembers.com/Professional-Education. Follow the login instructions referenced above for the LA courses and any ALA webinar.
ALA will keep our free training available throughout April. If you have questions or need help, please email Nici@ALALighting.com.
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Government Assistance Programs Related to COVID-19
As the lighting industry, like most industries, has experienced substantial business interruption during the distancing measures put into place to limit the spread of COVID-19, both the U.S. and Canada have instituted small business relief programs. Some of the programs included are grants and others are small business loans.
In Canada, please refer to www.canada.ca/coronavirus
In the U.S. please refer to the Small Business Administration: https://www.sba.gov/page/coronavirus-covid-19-small-business-guidance-loan-resources
Government Poised to Act, Again
The Paycheck Protection Program has shown early success in helping small businesses. The program, created as part of the C.A.R.E.S. Act, included $350 billion to help small businesses make payroll, pay rent or other utility costs. However, just a week into its implementation, word started spreading the initial funding amount was not nearly enough.
Later this week, the U.S. Senate is expected to consider additional legislation to bolster the Paycheck Protection Program with an additional quarter trillion dollars. ALA will keep members apprised as this latest effort works its way through the legislative process and to the President’s desk.
Learn about the Paycheck Protection Program
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CABA “SMART Home as Service” Research report
Early this year, the ALA signed on as a sponsor of the “SMART Home as a Service” (SHaaS) research report organized by CABA, the Continental Automated Buildings Association. For some 30 years now, CABA has researched, tracked and promoted advanced technologies in homes. Report sponsors had opportunities to help direct the research and analyze the early data, which included a survey of 1500+ consumers in the U.S. and Canada.
ALA took advantage of those opportunities while also inviting other ALA members to join as sponsors. WAC Lighting and Big Ass Fans signed up with ALA, and other ALA members participated separately. The result is that the SHaaS Final Report includes substantial input from our industry, and examines carefully the role of lighting from the technology, product and business standpoints as the opportunities become real over the next three to five years. Terry McGowan, ALA’s Director of Engineering & Technology, has led ALA’s efforts. Final reports are available here and will be posted on the ALA website as well. If you are not able to access the links, please reach out to Terry at lighting@ieee.org for a copy of the report.
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This is just the start and we will continue to look for ways to help our members navigate through this challenging time. Even though the safe social distancing policies are keeping us apart for now, we look forward to improving conditions and connecting together again soon. We will get through this as an ALA family. We are all in this together.
Thank you for your support and being a vibrant part of our community.
P.S. I am proud of many of the leadership efforts of many members helping the lighting industry and public at large during these unprecedented times. Last week, we posted a few of these leadership actions:
If you are interested in donating masks or other personal protective equipment (PPE) in your local area, find everything you need to know at Find The Masks.
Continue to check the ALA Facebook page for more examples of ALA members leading the way to improve the community and our industry.
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American Lighting Association | ALAMembers.com
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