Business in brief

• Two employees of The Elms, The Carriage House and The Chestnut Cottage have been recognized as "2010 Champions for Seniors."

The Assisted Living Federation of America has recognized Robert E.P. Elmer III, certified administrator of these facilities for the elderly, and Carolyn Collin, R.N., their nurse manager.

Richard Grimes, the ALFA's president and chief executive officer, notified them that they received the award for "superior levels of commitment to their communities, the seniors they serve and the senior industry as a whole." Both were also recognized for "exemplary professional service and commitment to seniors."

The Elms is an independent and assisted living community. The Carriage House and Chestnut Cottage are dedicated communities for the care of those with Alzheimer's disease and other memory impairments. This is Collin's second award and Elmer's fourth.

• The Greater Mystic Chamber of Commerce will hold its Business After Hours meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday at the Mystic Arts Center, 9 Water St.

The cost to attend is $10 for members and $20 for nonmembers. Participants are encouraged to bring a non-perishable food item to donate to the Pawcatuck Neighborhood Center. To register contact the chamber at 572-9578 or e-mail triciawalsh@mysticchamber.org.

Network for Success begins at 5 p.m. Barry L. Runyan, president of PrimExcellence will show how to get the most out of these events.

For more information, call (860) 572-9578 or visit www.mysticchamber.org.

• People's United Bank, the largest bank headquartered in New England, has achieved an "Outstanding" rating for its compliance with federal Community Reinvestment Act standards.

The Bridgeport-based bank's primary regulator, the federal Office of Thrift Supervision, recently announced the rating.

An individual bank's CRA performance is based on three areas: lending, investment and service tests. In Connecticut, an example of the bank's performance in connection to the federal guidelines includes lending and investment support for the Housing Development Fund and Connecticut Economic Development Fund.

People's United, which has approximately $22 billion in assets, provides consumer and commercial banking services through a network of nearly 300 branches in Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine and New York. Through its subsidiaries, the bank also equipment financing, asset management, brokerage and financial advisory services, and insurance services.

• The Liberty Bank Foundation has awarded a $3,000 grant to the the Governor's Prevention Partnership supporting the Mentoring Program at Bennie Dover Jackson Middle School in New London.

The Bennie Dover Jackson mentoring program has been in existence for several years, supported by governor's partnership. With the Liberty Bank grant, the partnership will engage local corporate partners and recruit and train 20-30 mentors. Liberty Bank has supported the New London mentoring program in past years, including similar funding in 2009.

The foundation seeks to improve the quality of life for people of low or moderate income by investing in the areas of preventive programming for children and families, affordable housing, and nonprofit capacity building.

• Kevin Lathrop from K&N electric is the speaker at the weekly meeting of the New London Nautilus Chapter of BNI on Tuesday.

The chapter meets at 7 a.m. every Tuesday in the Harris Building at Connecticut College. Nautilus BNI invites all businesses that want to increase their sales to attend meetings and join the group. Breakfast is included.

For more information, visit www.nautilusbni.com or contact Christine Wagner at (860) 444-8011.

• Comcast, a cable, phone and Internet provider, has awarded $1,000 scholarships to 39 leaders and achievers scholarship recipients, including six from southeastern Connecticut.

The six are:

• Amanda Coffey of Pawcatuck, a graduate of Stonington High School, will attend University of Connecticut to study mathematics;

• Jennifer Grillo of Uncasville, a graduate of Norwich Technical High School, will attend Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health to study nursing;

• Nanda Kommineni of Groton, a graduate of Fitch Senior High School, will attend University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to study pharmacy;

• Meredith Milligan of North Stonington, a graduate of Wheeler High School, will attend University of Connecticut to study biology;

• Mohammed Rajib of Norwich, a graduate at New London High School, will attend University of Connecticut to study business management; and

• Nicole Schneider of East Lyme, a graduate at East Lyme High School, will attend DeSales University in Pennsylvania to study medicine.

• For the third straight year, Citizens Financial Group Inc. shared honors for Conceive magazine's annual "50 Best Companies" list of employers offering family-building benefits.

This year, CFG shared top honors in Conceive's ranking with Robins & Morton, a family-run construction company in Birmingham, Ala.

Through its Adoption Assistance program, CFG offers colleagues up to $22,170 in financial support and one week paid leave for each adoption. In addition, Citizens offers a $100,000 lifetime cap for fertility treatment plus $100,000 for prescription drugs.

Since Citizens began offering adoption assistance in 1996, 161 employees have adopted 180 children with the help of more than $1.5 million from the bank.

• The BNI Mystic chapter will hear a presentation from Carl Spiegel of ASP Security at 7 a.m. Thursday at the Groton Inn & Suites.

Spiegel will discuss services that ASP Security provides to their commercial and residential customers. The chapter meets every Thursday at 7 a.m. For more information, visit www.bnimystic.com.

• The Groton Rotary Club raised more than $8,000 for its charitable foundation thanks to the success of its boat raffle.

The funds released from the raffle will be used to help fund future grants to local, community nonprofit organizations and scholarships for local high school students.

Douglas "Doug" Crandall of Groton was the winner of the boat, a 1985 29-foot Sea Ray 270 Sundancer, which is valued at $14,000. Thomas Kelley was the donor of the boat. R.B. Kent, president of the Groton Rotary Club, picked the winning ticket with the help of Lian Obrey, president-elect and chairperson of the fundraiser.

The funds realized from the boat raffle and other fund raising events are dedicated and deposited in the club's nonprofit foundation, the Groton Rotary Club Community Foundation Inc., a nonprofit corporation.

The Groton Rotary Club is a community organization dedicated to the theme, "Service Above Self," and welcomes new members. Local persons interested in joining should visit www.grotonrotary.org, contact a local Rotarian or contact club President R.B. Kent at (860) 445-2331 or RBKentinc.@aol.com.

• Press releases for the Business in Brief column, which runs each Sunday, should be sent via email to businessbriefs@theday.com.

Submit all items for consideration by Wednesday morning for publication in the following Sunday's business section. Generally, press releases should be no more than two to three paragraphs in length because of space limitations. Remember to include pertinent information, such as your company's telephone number, hours of operation and website address.

For general questions about Business in Brief submissions, call Anthony Cronin, The Day's business editor, at (860) 701-4326 or send an e-mail to a.cronin@theday.com.