BATTLE CREEK, MICH. — The Kellogg Company Fund has committed to provide $1 million in grants to increase participation in breakfast programs at schools throughout the United States during the 2014-15 school year. The grants are part of “Breakfasts for Better Days,” an initiative launched last year  with a goal of providing 1 billion servings of cereal and snacks to children and families in need around the world by the end of 2016.

“Because we know the power of breakfast in fueling better days and better lives, we’re pleased to provide grants to support school breakfast programs across the U.S., providing access to food that provides critical nutrition that can in turn improve school performance for thousands of children,” said Kris Charles, vice-president of global communications and philanthropy at Kellogg Co.

Kellogg said the grants will be provided to Action for Healthy Kids, Share Our Strength and Food Research & Action Center, organizations committed to providing important resources to help schools grow participation in federal school breakfast programs. Grants will be used by schools to purchase equipment and cover other program costs to help more children start the day with a nutritious breakfast, Kellogg said.

“At Action for Healthy Kids, we firmly believe that all children deserve to be healthy and ready to learn at the beginning of their school day,” said Rob Bisceglie, chief executive officer of Action for Healthy Kids. “And many rely on the national School Breakfast Program to make that happen. The support we get from companies like Kellogg is absolutely critical in the work we do to further access to this program for kids who need it most.”

In 2013, the first year of the “Breakfasts for Better Days” initiative, Kellogg said it donated more than 400 million servings of products, of which 230 million servings were breakfast foods. Also during the year, the company provided funding for 98 breakfast projects in Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany, Guatemala, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the U.K. and Venezuela to provide nearly 540,000 breakfasts by the end of 2014.