Kelvin Beachum: Reinforce America's crumbling foundations before launching Space Force A successful American society is based on education, food security, and clean water access. Prioritize these needs before entirely new initiatives.

Kelvin Beachum, Jr. | Opinion contributor

I heard some shocking details regarding Space Force — the program the current administration wants to create by 2020 to defend and expand U.S. assets in space, creating a sixth branch of the military.

The White House expects the necessary funding to be in the billions of dollars — billions.

As an investor and admirer of forward-thinking innovation, I can admit that this is a stimulating idea. But as a philanthropist, father and citizen, I can’t help but think of the impact a large investment like that could have on our current domestic problems.

When it comes to prioritizing spending, we must ask ourselves: What are our immediate needs?

In my personal life, I establish priorities to ensure my focus remains on what is most important. My foundation is faith, family and football. In the greater context of being an American citizen, we must recognize what our foundation consists of and why those pillars are vital. Access to food, access to clean water and education are the foundation on which everything is built. Currently, that foundation is crumbling.

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We must identify and fix the immediate needs of our nation before creating new entities that will undoubtedly generate their own needs and problems. Fixing the foundation must come first.

I must speak up for myself, my family and those who are marginalized. I welcome both conversation and discord because dialogue leads to progress.

Below are three immediate needs that should be national priorities, based on my observations and experiences. They are problems I have made it my mission to help solve.

Education funding and equity

Education is essential to human virtue and necessary for society. It is the foundation for a successful future, and the basis of a good life.

We expect future generations to thrive, yet we see functionally illiterate students allowed to graduate from high school. Approximately 32 million adults in the United States can’t read, according to the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute of Literacy. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that 50 percent of U.S. adults can’t read a book written at an eighth-grade level.

We fail to equip teachers with resources for their classrooms and rely on them to fund these supplies from their personal means. Our government even threatened a 13.5 percent spending cut to education although this would limit the resources students need to learn important basics.

Our education system needs support to improve resource equity, ensuring that there is a fair distribution of resources, including money, effective teaching, student supplies and challenging curriculum.

In our healthy economic climate, an educated workforce is important to the growth of small businesses and progress. The amount of innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as our employment capabilities, are at stake. People need to be educated to make money, and people need to make money to spend money. How can we expect to staff Space Force without properly educating our children to be qualified for its purpose and needs?

Food insecurity and hunger

Even in one of the world’s greatest food-producing nations, 41 million people lack reliable access to nutritious food in the United States. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the sole food source for 8.5 million American families, per the Urban Institute.

Currently, there is a proposed trimming of $193 billion over the next 10 years for SNAP. As someone who benefited from food assistance programs as a child, I fear the day we cut these resources and leave more Americans hungry. What about the younger version of myself who struggles with food insecurity in rural Mexia, Texas? He still exists.

I have met with members of Congress alongside advocacy groups to help pass legislation that would improve school lunch and breakfast programs and have helped educate policy makers on the effects of malnutrition. Programs like SNAP serve roughly 45 million Americans, which is why it is so important to advocate for government policies that help those facing food insecurity and fight against these budget cuts.

Clean water access and conservation

We are all aware of the water catastrophes in Flint, Michigan, that garnered national attention, but lead poisoning from contaminated water pipes, mass water shutoffs and deteriorating water infrastructure are devastating communities across the nation.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) found that more than 5,300 water systems in America violated the EPA's Lead and Copper rule, a federal regulation in place to protect America's drinking water from aging infrastructure, in 2015.

We must demand that our leaders improve distribution infrastructure, improve water catchment and harvesting, improve irrigation and agricultural practices and invent new water conservation technologies. Access to clean water is a basic human right.

We have the power to elicit change. Our input and demand for accountability can improve social and economic outcomes for our country. With election season around the corner, it is imperative that we remember the value of our voices. We elect officials to fight for our hopes and needs. It’s time to speak up rather than leaving all decisions to a select few.

Combating food insecurity, providing clean water access and supporting education are the immediate needs I identify as important, but I want to hear from you. I want to start the dialogue. Let’s have this conversation at every dinner table. Let’s make this water cooler chatter in every office. Let your voice be heard. Get writing, get talking, get moving. Our immediate needs depend on it.

Kelvin Beachum, Jr., is an investor, philanthropist and starting offensive tackle for the New York Jets of the National Football League. Follow him on Twitter @KelvinBeachumJr.