FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 31, 2006

New Program Provides Financial Aid to ISA Members

Alexandria, VA ­ A new member benefit offered by the International Sign Association (ISA) grants financial support to member companies that are seeking legal, legislative, educational or technical assistance to address sign-related issues. The new program is designed to support grassroots initiatives by helping fund individual sign companies dealing with concerns that have a broad impact on the industry as a whole.

Funding is available on a first-come, first-served basis, and members must submit a detailed application outlining the goal of the project for which they are seeking financial support. To date, ISA has awarded $42,500 to four member organizations facing a variety of industry issues.

In one instance, ISA funding is being used to support a custom sign company’s efforts to contest government regulation of lettering and graphics inside windows. The case takes on a local government that is charging companies for window signs by using an arbitrary formula to estimate the cost for a sign permit. Because the local sign ordinances contain numerous content-based provisions that would likely not survive a challenge under the First Amendment, a win in this case could have wide-sweeping ramifications for the sign industry at-large.

Another beneficiary of ISA’s funding assistance program is a company whose case is currently before a state supreme court. The case involves a city code banning Electronic Message Centers for anything other than time, date and temperature readings. The city appealed to the state’s high court after a lower court found the code to be both an unconstitutional infringement on commercial speech and a direct violation of content neutrality standards as required by the U.S. Supreme Court.

“ISA’s new funding assistance program is a tremendous benefit to our members as it helps to offset the financial burden involved in challenging some of these legal cases,” said ISA President and CEO Lori Anderson. “On a larger scale, though, this program is a boon to the entire sign industry. By backing the efforts of individual sign companies to support their rights and promote the value of signage, ISA is helping to protect and defend the industry as a whole.”

To learn more about ISA’s funding assistance program or to apply for financial support, visit www.signs.org or contact ISA directly at (703) 836-4012.

ISA is a 1,900 member organization composed of manufacturers, users, and suppliers of on-premise signs and sign products produced by more than 400,000 employees in all 50 states and 69 foreign countries. ISA exists to support, promote, and improve the $30 billion-a-year sign industry, which sustains the nation’s nearly $3 trillion-a-year retail industry.

International Sign Association (ISA)
707 North Saint Asaph St.
Alexandria, VA 22314
Phone: 703-836-4012
Website URL: www.signs.org