Former signs of the New Haven Savings Bank are now being replaced with the new red-orange logos of NewAlliance Bank.

NewAlliance, which was formed in March with the merger of New Haven Savings Bank, or NHSB, The Savings Bank of Manchester and Tolland Bank, announced Monday that it has officially opened its 74 state-wide branches under its new name.

The bank unveiled a new slogan, “Capital ideas. Human values,” and announced the establishment of the NewAlliance Bank Foundation, an organization dedicated to meeting the social and economic needs of Connecticut residents.

The foundation also designated two grants of $100,000 each to the Greater Dwight Development Corporation and the Eastern Connecticut Health Network, or ECHN.

“NewAlliance is a new kind of Bank,” said NewAlliance President and CEO Peyton R. Patterson. “It was formed by the coming together of three of Connecticut’s best community banks. Working together as one, we have forged strong ‘New Alliances’ between the Bank, our customers and the communities we serve.”

After a $40 million stock contribution from NewAlliance Bancshares, Inc., the NewAlliance Bank Foundation has assets of over $50 million.

Linda Townsend Maier, executive director of the Greater Dwight Development Corporation, said the grant money will be used towards funding a 8,244-square-foot day-care center and training facility, located in the Dwight neighborhood of New Haven on Edgewood and Orchard streets. She said the Dwight community has had plans for the center for several years now.

Maier said she has worked with NHSB in the past — mainly with smaller grants and projects — and that they have always been supportive of her organization.

“They’ve always been pretty generous when it comes to neighborhood initiatives,” she said. “We are familiar with the folks on the foundation board and with the officers there at the bank. We’ve developed this relationship over the years, which is important in initiatives such as this one,” she said.

Amy Lynn Silverman, director of development for the ECHN Community Health Care Foundation, said their NewAlliance Foundation grant will be used for the coordination of women’s health services, including funding a women’s health coordinator position and resources that will allow women more access to ECHN services. ECHN includes two hospitals in its network and is involved in 19 communities in eastern Connecticut.

Silverman said the ECHN Community Health Care Foundation will continue to work with NewAlliance through grants and sponsorships in fund-raising events.

In addition to the Greater Dwight Development Corporation and ECHN, NewAlliance gave a $100,000 grant to the Long Wharf Theater last week. It was the largest corporate grant received by the theater and will fund artistic and educational programs.

Further NewAlliance involvement in the New Haven community includes the “NewAlliance for Neighborhoods” initiative, which is dedicated to funding loans for affordable housing, and a $25-million community-led independent foundation dedicated to serving the area.

NHSB announced its plans to convert to a public company and acquire Tolland Bank and The Savings Bank of Manchester in July 2003, and the closing of the conversion and acquisition was completed in April under the name NewAlliance Bancshares, Inc. NewAlliance Bank is now the second largest savings bank and fifth largest bank in Connecticut with $6.2 billion in assets and $3.8 billion in deposits.