Angela DeLeon Receives FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award

NEW HAVEN, CT—Kimberly K. Mertz, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the FBI, proudly announces Connecticut’s 2010 FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award (DCLA) recipient is Angela DeLeon. Ms. DeLeon is the originator and coordinator of the People’s United Bank Masters Program, a nationally recognized program for its leadership in initiating crime prevention and awareness programs for senior citizens.

In 1996, People’s United Bank became one of the first banks in the United States to develop a program designed specifically for the safety of its senior citizen customer base. The mission of the program is the promotion of financial safety and awareness for senior citizens. The Masters Program brings together significant resources in a collaborative effort to help the elderly, which includes representatives from law enforcement, private and not-for-profit business, the Connecticut Attorney General’s office, and senior advocacy agencies.

Ms. DeLeon initiated the nationally recognized File of Life Program and the Yellow Dot Program, both of which offer first responders a dossier of a senior citizen’s medical condition should they not be able to speak for themselves. The File of Life Program is designed to help first responders quickly obtain necessary medical history, support needs, and emergency contact information thorough documentation located in a red plastic pocket labeled “File of Life” attached to the refrigerator by a magnet. The Yellow Dot Program relays information to emergency personnel in the event of an automobile accident. Participants in the Yellow Dot program place a yellow sticker on the bottom left corner of their vehicle’s rear window. This sticker lets emergency personnel know to check the vehicle’s glove compartment for important medical information regarding the vehicle’s driver. A photograph accompanying the form ensures emergency responders can correctly identify the victim. The form itself contains personal information, as well as emergency contacts, hospital preference, medical history, allergies, medications, and physicians’ names and numbers.

Ms. DeLeon is a nationally recognized expert who speaks at senior centers, senior housing associations, assisted living facilities, and seminars held in People’s United Bank branches in the State of Connecticut, as well as, throughout the country. She teaches senior citizens how to avoid being an unsuspecting target. In addition, Ms. DeLeon is the sole individual in the state of Connecticut certified to teach law enforcement officers sensitivity seminars in understanding the physical and mental challenges affecting older citizens, senior crime prevention, and interviewing the elderly.

For her outstanding accomplishments on behalf of senior citizens in Connecticut, Angela DeLeon, as a direct result of her tireless work with the People’s United Bank Masters Program, was awarded Connecticut’s 2010 Director’s Community Leadership Award. On March 25, 2011, Ms. DeLeon and recipients from other FBI offices will travel to FBI Headquarters to receive their formal awards from FBI Director Robert Mueller. Since 1990, the FBI has publicly recognized individuals and organizations, who have exhibited exemplary leadership within the local community and whose leadership has assisted the FBI and local law enforcement personnel in making safer communities.