Action For Healthy Kids And Kellogg Company Fund Provide School Breakfast Grants To 24 School Districts & 187 Schools For The 2016-2017 School Year

CHICAGO, Sept. 27, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Action for Healthy Kids® (AFHK) announces the 24 school districts and 187 recipients of School Breakfast Grants for the 2016-2017 school year, provided through funding from Kellogg Company Fund. The School Breakfast Grants help schools and school districts pilot or expand their National School Breakfast Programs in order to increase access to breakfast for more students and help them have a nutritious start to the school day.

Data shows that children who start the day with breakfast tend to do better in school[1]. Breakfast can help kick-start metabolism, energy and focus for learning and can help set children up for the day ahead[2],[3]. Unfortunately, millions of children don't get that kick-start they need to help be alert to learn in the classroom. Only 44% of students participating in the National School Lunch Program also participated in school breakfast programming in 2014 (30.3 million lunch participants vs. 13.5 million breakfast participants according to the USDA), which means that millions of low-income children are not receiving a nutritious breakfast available to them at school.

Schools will use their grants to purchase equipment and cover other program costs that enable them to expand school breakfast participation through alternative breakfast models, such as breakfast in the classroom and grab 'n go breakfast. These alternative breakfast models helps schools overcome many of the barriers that keep students from accessing school breakfast. A complete list of funded schools can be found at ActionforHealthyKids.org/Kellogg.

"It is thanks to the support of dedicated partners like Kellogg Company that we are able to continue to reach more and more schools and students each year with our school breakfast grants," said Rob Bisceglie, CEO Action for Healthy Kids. "Nationwide, so many more kids are eligible for school breakfast than actually participate. Programs like alternative school breakfast help to bridge that gap and provide vital nutrition to kids who need it the most."

"Because we know the power of breakfast in fueling better days and better lives, we're pleased to continue our long-time partnership with Action for Healthy Kids. School breakfast grants not only provide students with access to a nutritious breakfast each day, but in turn may improve the school experience for thousands of children," said Julie Bosley, Director, Philanthropy, Kellogg Company.

With support from Kellogg, AFHK has provided funding and technical support to 1,525 schools, helping them to serve more than 21 million new breakfasts to 135,284 hungry or undernourished students since 2009. Together, they have helped schools take advantage of the National School Breakfast program and increase breakfast participation among their students, on average, by 34%.

Expanding school breakfast programs is part of Kellogg Company's Breakfasts for Better Days global signature cause, launched in 2013. Through Breakfast for Better Days, Kellogg is seeking to expand breakfast programs around the globe, maximize product donations and advocate for the important role breakfast plays in the diet. To date, Kellogg has supported programs that have provided more than 1.4 billion servings of cereal and snacks (more than half of which are breakfast) to children and families in need around the world through Breakfasts for Better Days.

[1] Kleinman RE, Hall S, Green H, Korzec-Ramirez D, Patton K, Pagano ME, Murphy JM. Diet, breakfast, and academic performance in children. Ann Nutr Metab. 2002;46 Suppl 1:24-30.

[2] Kosti RI, Panagiotakos DB, Zampelas A, Mihas C, Alevizos A, Leonard C, Tountas Y, Mariolis A. The association between consumption of breakfast cereals and BMI in schoolchildren aged 12-17 years: the VYRONAS study. Public Health Nutr. 2008 Oct;11(10):1015-21.

[3] Cooper SB, Bandelow S, Nevill ME. Breakfast consumption and cognitive function in adolescent schoolchildren. Physiol Behav. 2011 Jul 6;103(5):431-9.

SOURCE Action for Healthy Kids