TAMPA, Fla. — The Super Bowl will leave a lasting legacy in the Tampa area in a variety of ways.

The NFL and Super Bowl Host committee's Forever 55 Legacy Program is investing $2 million in pillars to help support needs in the local community.

Those pillars are: early childhood education, food insecurities, families, health and wellness, sustainability and systemic justice.

Amanda Jae, Director of Palma Ceia United Methodist Day School, says education should start at birth and she's thrilled early childhood education is one of the legacy pillars.

"Early childhood education is really the foundation of our children's full educational career," Jae said.

"So, if we're able to start at birth, even with basic literacy skills, social-emotional skills, our children are going to be prepared for their entire life, let alone their academic career through grade 12 and beyond."

Early childhood learning advocate, Aakash Patel agrees.

"Start the dialogue that early learning is an initiative that's important for our future as a region to succeed," said Patel, who is Board Chair of the Early Learning Coalition of Hillsborough County.

He's excited to have this initiative take center stage during the historic Super Bowl.

"It’s exciting to talk about early learning on a national platform and we’re talking to business owners and business leaders that know about the cause but now we’re getting to educate them and ask them to get involved even after the game goes away," said Patel.

And when the game does go away, these advocates want the conversation to continue.

"Business leaders can advocate, we can talk to our legislators and inspire them and raise the funding reimbursement levels," said Patel.

"As this discussion evolves past the Super Bowl, we’re talking about being an advocate, volunteering or even donating financially."

A Super Bowl legacy making a difference in the lives of our children.

"We're really excited to have the connection in our community with the Super Bowl being able to focus on early childhood education because it's so important for us to be able to support the community now and the community in the future," said Jae.