Boeing said it will provide $100 million over several years to help families and communities affected by two crashes of its 737 Max plane that killed 346 people.

Some of the money will go toward living expenses and to cover hardship suffered by the families of dead passengers, the company said Wednesday. The fund is separate from any legal settlements that are negotiated in connection with the two crashes, a company spokesman said.

Boeing faces dozens of lawsuits over the crashes in October and in March. Relatives of passengers on a Lion Air Max that crashed off the coast of Indonesia last year agreed to try to settle through mediation, but families of passengers killed in an Ethiopian Airlines crash are waiting until more is known about the accidents.

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Preliminary investigations indicate that new software that pushed the planes' noses down played a role in the crashes. Boeing is updating the software. Max jets have been grounded worldwide since March.

--CBS News' Kris Van Cleave contributed to this report.