The American Dream Factory

Looking forward to another great networking opportunity taking place next month that will give our pilot Young Inventors and Entrepreneurs Club a chance to put a number of inventions that we're teaching through on the front-end of the idea-to-market business cycle, in front of real-deal manufacturers on the Treasure Coast who can bring them to life AND MARKET!

As you can see from recent posts, we are reaching out to suppliers of recycled plastics pulled from the ocean to make our own Brand of Eco-Bagz and have a number of custom designed metal products in need of welding that make up our Safe and Green Marina Initiative which could easily be manufactured in our own backyard too.

Add that to Dr. Ruzycki's continued work at the University of Florida to develop a custom designed curriculum for our Project Based Learning and Workforce Readiness program along with her ultra generous offer to get Engineering students she's involved with at UF into the mix for product development and mentorship for our students, and I think it's fair to say that we are closer than ever to creating the youth-led and community-based pipeline we've been working on for years!!! =ECO

P.S. Here's a short video clip showing last year's inaugural event and what to expect for this year's manufacturing expo and networking BBQ. https://www.facebook.com/reel/1092396943283714

Come see what your neighbors build. Then eat barbecue with them.

$25 gets you in, dinner included. All are welcome.

TICKETS: https://go.tcmamfg.com/showcase

2026 Coastal Cleanup: Finally getting a chance to post a few pics taken from this weekend's Coastal Cleanup (and after-cleanup pizza & paddleboard party) along the shorelines of the Indian River Lagoon. As you can see, we were blessed with a break in recent afternoon storm patterns which allowed us to help fellow volunteers and leadership from the Fort Pierce Manatee Center remove hundreds of pounds of toxic trash and recyclable debris from finding its way into the lagoon and adjacent ocean!

While we had a number of students that couldn't attend due to previously committed events and family matters, we had a stellar group of hardworking kids and family members who helped make up the small army of volunteers that scrubbed our sliver of beautiful shoreline and prevent the last leg of urban runoff from entering (and polluting) our waterways, forever:(

Needless to say, such good work deserves good rewards, so we held a quick pizza and paddleboard party for those who could stay which gave the kids a chance to have some fun in exchange for their community service. It also gave me and Brian a chance to speak with a number of parents whose children are part of our pilot after-school program for the first time about what we're doing to teach through our pipeline of inventions and creative business ideas, and more importantly, WHY we are doing it in the youth-led and community-based fashion that we prefer.

No need to get into the details, but I think it's fair to say that we earned a few more fans for what we are doing based on the offers of help and support that were given for future events which is always good to hear from those who are already making huge commitments in trust, time, and transportation that even allows their kids to take part in our Young Inventors and Entrepreneurs Club in the first place.

In closing, whether it's these types of community events or participation in our own program as a whole, the amount of time, money, and energy that is committed for it is not taken lightly by us which is why we give a HUGE THANKS to all those who showed up in mass to make our slice of heaven on the Treasure Coast all the more beautiful as well as to our good friends from the Fort Pierce Manatee Center and Causeway Cove Marina who hosted this year's Coastal Cleanup and after-party event! Enjoy the pics, and hope to see you for the next two events on the horizon for even-more good fun and even-more good community-based time spent together:) J

While we sift through pictures and work through words to express the gratitude behind our own great day spent between the Fort Pierce Manatee Center and Causeway Cove Marina Marina for the 2026 Coastal Cleanup Day, I thought it would be a good time to share the incredible work that our good friend Awiyii Blaise and his band of Eco-Friends were doing halfway around the world to make their coastal shores of Cameroon Africa better than it was the day before!

If you haven't seen recent posts regarding our connection to Awiyii and other members of "Blue Communities" that he's tied together with through Plastic Oceans International (https://www.plasticoceans.org/) there is a very real opportunity we have to take part and collaborate within the circular economy that all of these great people and groups are putting together to repurpose and reuse plastics that are pulled from our oceans (think Eco-Bagz).

Plenty more that we hope to share about these connections being worked on behind the scene as well as even more cool news that will surely break soon regarding the connections that Awiyii helped to make between his "eco-friends" at We Save the World (https://www.wesavetheworld.org/) and education officials from our very own Manatee Center that has the potential for our own local students to raise awareness and much needed charitable dollars to help save Manatees in our own backyard and/or support other great causes to choose from around the world like Awiyii's work at Eco-Friends!!! Hope you enjoy the pics and can truly appreciate what this small group of committed people are capable of doing with just two trash pickers that were donated by We Save the World to help with the work...

One month down, endless generations to go: More proof that time flies when you're having fun or just surrounded by lots of kids with lots of questions about lots of things we have to do! Either way, the first month of year six in our still budding pilot program for Young Inventors and Entrepreneurs has been nothing short of a mad scramble to organize an ever-growing crowd of middle school students who are eager to learn any number of STEAM-based (and future workforce) skills through our pipeline of inventions.

Of course, we look forward to the day when all of the cogs and wheels of our youth-led and community-based Dream machine are turning smoothly as the ratio of students to mentors will surely reduce current stress levels. Not to mention, the much needed money that will surely flow from our pipeline of problem solving products and other self-funding mechanisms in place such as grants, our own Brand of Coffee sales, and guaranteed donations from people who will soon see the merits and benefits from our project based learning process will provide us with all of the equipment, space, and tools that we ultimately want for and need.

Until then, we do what we do best for now which is to make the best of what we have, continue to beta-test our formula, and put ourselves in a position for great things to happen as soon as possible which couldn't be on better display than what we set in-motion this week! With that said, our first class of the week was more hectic than usual, as we needed to get each group settled in on their respective projects and produce flyers for next weekend's collaborative cleanup event with the Manatee Center which falls hard on the shoulders of students who signed up for our Graphic Arts department. Needless to say, these are a small group of students who have plenty of creative ideas but little to no experience in how to bring those ideas to digital life for others to see.

Thankfully, we were able to introduce them to Brooke Peacock of Peahen Photography (https://peahenphotography.weebly.com/) who came back as a returning mentor in the nick of time to not only share her highly professional skills as a photographer but as someone who is proficient in Canva and other digital art mediums to help put together the draft flyer seen below. She was even able to combine her super mentoring powers to share work with the larger group of students she'll be working with from the Photography Team to document the educational process involved in the making of the flyer! I have no idea what that sounds like to most people reading this, but from my perspective that was nothing short of a heroic effort to witness in the 90 minutes that she might have had with the kids and a perfect example of what we will soon be capable of with even more experienced professionals like Brooke, or genius level college students that we might have access to soon from the University of Florida to help develop our inventions and mentor our students throughout the entire process.

Speaking of inventions, we have in the pipeline that we have to teach through and bring to market, I've added a few pictures from an interesting opportunity that just might be the perfect fit for what we are looking for as it pertains to our own Brand and line of Eco-Bagz. As you can see it comes from an open-ended offer to "bring our Brand and vision to life" made by the amazing Founder and eco-friendly reusable bag makers from Out of the Ocean (https://www.outoftheocean.com/) and KeepCool Bags (https://keepcoolbags.com/) seen here and in pictures shown to our Friday class below!!!

For those new to our own history and ultimate intent, our very first batch of inventions were primarily based around marine safety and the environment which were developed under the umbrella of my first company called, Open Water Products (O.W.P.). As the pinned post to our page tries to tell the long and winding road since, I shelved O.W.P. to create what I believed would be a much better process to process my own pipeline of ideas and those from other like-minded inventors and social entrepreneurs that would not only solve problems that each invention was intended to solve BUT solve them in a fashion that simultaneously solved larger problems within the greater community at-large, which of course led to the birth of The American Dream Factory, The American Dream Cafe, and everything else that will soon be launched from our newly minted non-profit hub.

17 1/2 years later we are now in a position where enough pieces of the puzzle are in place to where we can truly process an original idea in the youth-led and community-based fashion that we prefer. And while a ton of time has passed since that first batch of inventions came to mind, it just might be that our highly creative line of eco-bags that are designed to curb urban runoff and keep the type of toxic trash and recyclable plastics that suppliers for Out of the Ocean and KeepCool Bags have to pull out of the water in the first place that lead the way for every other idea in our pipeline to follow! As I continue to say at the end of each post, there are no guarantees, BUT on paper this looks to be a match made for the history books as the synergy and problem solving efforts to better our environment and everything that depends on it in the world, including the cool animals seen on their reusable bags AND US, would have to put the odds of something good coming from this connection at a place that I would be willing to bet the farm on.

As always, stay tune more news and updates as we begin the first of many collaborative events and entrepreneurial opportunities with the Manatee Center that starts in earnest with next weekend's Community Action cleanup event as well as our ongoing application process to become 4-H Club Corporate Partners and 4-H Chartered Club Sponsors which ties directly into our latest connection with Out of the Ocean and KeepCool Bags as it all relates to 4-H's national push for workforce development and career readiness programs under their Beyond Ready campaign (https://4-h.org/beyond-ready/). Until then, be well and never be afraid to PUT YOUR DREAM TO THE TEST no matter how long the results might take to come in:) J =ECO -BAGZ

Talking Trash and Taking Names: It took a couple of minutes to come up with an appropriate title for this week's chapter in the record books, but thought it was only appropriate to combine the heartfelt and compelling message from the Fort Pierce Manatee Center's Education Director, Elyse Geraghty, regarding reasons and need for our students participation in the upcoming Community Cleanup and our annual student sign up for their project departments of choice.

This was the second visit to speak with after-school students by Mrs. Geraghty over the last two years with far more to come as she not only set the stage for our collaboration in the Manatee Center's Community Cleanup which coincides with International Cleanup Day, but also spoke to this years group of Young Inventors and Entrepreneurs about the potential ways that we can incorporate any number of manatee themed products that our group is capable of producing for their well-traveled tourist gift shop which has over 40,000 unique visitors visit each year. https://manateecenter.org/

And as you can see from a prime example given in pictures below, Elyse will be introducing us to the Manatee Center's Gift Shop Manager, Merideth Bennett, to speak about even more entrepreneurial and real-world business ways that we can place and sell our very own Brand of fundraising coffee (https://www.theamericandreamcafe.com/) which students can custom label specifically for the Manatee Center itself! Couple that with future conversations that we will surely have when our full line of Eco-Bags are ready for sale AND the fast approaching opportunity to design and 3D print an 8ft. Mangrove tree for the Center's new renovation and you can only imagine the lifetime of opportunities and memories that students from this year's class and from others for years to come will surely have thanks to Elyse's amazing support and belief in what we are developing through our pilot program.

She closed out her visit by speaking to students about a sobering story related to a recent Manatee's death which led to the discovery of numerous items of trash and plastic debris that were pulled from the Manatee's digestive tract during the scientific necropsy which Elyse took part in with local Fish and Wildlife agents. Needless to say, visuals of what they found went a long way to make the case for why such community cleanups are important and why educating our youth on the need and personal commitment to curb urban runoff from reaching our fragile waterways in the first place is more needed than ever.

From there, it was a mad scramble and free-for-all as students decided which project department that they would like to take part in to get the year started. As Mr. Tygesson explained, the group headings to choose from such as Digital Art, Sales and Marketing, Laser Engraving, 3D Printing, Photography, and Drone Piloting might seem as independent departments on their own, but they are all designed to work together towards a common goal and mission that each group will play its own role in accomplishing as a much larger Team! We believe that this is where a lot of the magic that we are trying to create happens as each individual student will now be exposed to real world workplace experiences that require the lost art of PEOPLE SKILLS necessary to navigate in groups of people with different lifestyles, opinions, and personal nature as a whole which is worth its weight in gold for those able get through ,or better yet, thrive in those types of settings.

The next phase of operations is to couple the obvious need for learning that comes within each department and doing as a number of projects mentioned and more are just around the corner. The good news is that many students involved in our pilot program are returning 7th and 8th graders with some experience already under their belts who can help to mentor and lead others within their sub-groups which is also magical and awesome to witness. And then we have returning adult mentors such as Brook Peacock of (https://peahenphotography.weebly.com/) who is already committed to rejoining us next Wednesday where she will be working with a brand new and much larger group of aspiring photographers that will only benefit from her amazing talents and professional skills! Add that with all of the help we could ask for from Dr. Ruzycki and engineering students from the University of Florida that she will soon be connecting us to and you can start to see the type of pipeline of mentorship and professional help that we have been looking to create over the last 5 years of this out-of-the-box project and cause.

As always, there's more to share that will come from this afternoon's class regarding our upcoming cleanup event and opportunities to expand our program to even more young inventors and aspiring entrepreneurs at Treasure Coast High School, but I'll leave it here for now with the quick mention of a quote seen at the end of class pictures below by former Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz which basically states that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE when you're surrounded by people who share a passionate commitment and common purpose... Needless to say, we are surely being surrounded by an ever growing group of people, young and old, who are about to show the world just what's possible when you combine a pipeline of never-ending great ideas which are purposely (and passionately) processed in a youth-led and community-based process:) J

Above and "Beyond Ready": With 17 years full of twists and turns, and hundreds of meetings and classes along the way to choose from, I'm not sure if there was a better day for the sake of momentum and pure validation for ALL that we are seeking to do yet than what took place yesterday. As what we have been alluding to for weeks now is all but official as we are simply waiting for our formal application to be recorded as newly minted sponsors and/or directors of our very own 4-H Chartered Special Interest (SPIN) Club for Young Inventors and Entrepreneurs which will be forever powered by The American Dream Factory Inc.!

This powerful collaboration and partnership with St. Lucie County 4-H puts us in a position to gain full 4-H Club status and connections within the oldest and largest youth-led organization on the planet on a local level to start, with the ultimate hope of expanding to every 4-H Club across the country and beyond in due time. And while 4-H will always be known for their roots in farming and agricultural activities that became nationalized in 1914, there is a huge workforce readiness campaign by National 4-H to better prepare their 6 million Club members for a 21st Century workplace. And that particular niche market is what we are BEYOND READY to help with. https://4-h.org/beyond-ready/

And while we have already earned the validation for our pipeline of products and the youth-led and community-based process by which we want to develop and bring them to market in from the likes of our champion teacher, Brian Tygesson, who just happens to be a former U.S. Air Force and U.S. Coast Guard member, marine science teacher, and and holder of a business degree which means more than most can imagine considering that many products we have to develop are explicitly designed with marine safety and the environment in-mind. Coupling that with my personal design for a business model that could literally change the current pathway that inventions and creative business ideas are brought to market that passed Brian's test on the business side of the equation has meant the world to me over our last 5 or 6 years working together now.

Add that to the type of validation that has come from our recent connection with John Ferguson of St. Lucie County 4-H who has gone "above and beyond" anything that we could have asked for in his help to form our very own Chartered 4-H Club (and official Corporate Partnership once that open application is finished) based on his belief in what we are developing as a perfect fit for the local and national Beyond Ready initiative and you can start to see why we fully believe we are onto something very special.

And then there is the continued support and belief in what we are doing that has also been judged by hundreds of students and parents who have joined us over the past 5 years, such as Darby Browning who joined us as well for yesterday's monumental class as a parent of not just one, but two genius-level and very gifted daughters who have taken part in our pilot program which is another reason to believe that we are on the right track.

But then came a very real and highly important test for what we are developing that was just administered by Nancy Ruzycki, PhD. who is an Instructional Associate Professor within the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering at the University of Florida. As the link to just some of Dr. Ruzycki's accolades next to her picture will show, "Dr. R" as UF students call her has raised over $12 million dollars for her own working projects as an engineer, physics modeler, and K-12 Curriculum developer for both STEM-based studies and AI Data Research to name a few of Dr. Ruzycki's accomplishments. So, when yours truly was put on the hot seat to explain ALL that we are trying to do to use our pipeline of inventions as a mechanism to mentor and teach on the front-end of our process with the ultimate hope to create JOBS, taxes, and philanthropy on the back-end of our business model is such ideas are brought to market, you have to know that our paper was about to get graded by someone who could mark it up with plenty of red ink if there was something wrong with our concept and theories.

What came from what I expected to be a very tough and to the point interview with a highly intelligent professor quickly turned into a conversation that was filled with comments such as "I see where you are going and I can help you get there" along with multiple comments and valid points about our need for structure which we are in desperate need of. From there it led to a number of connections that were offered to be made and even the incredibly generous offer to get UF Engineering students involved at some point in the product development AND mentoring process of our current students who would be paid an hourly rate through the help of the good Doctor in Physics and Engineering herself!!!

Our second week of year 6 closed out with an after-class call with Dr. Ruzycki, Brian, John Ferguson, and myself where the beginnings of a year-long action plan were laid out as a means to get our current pilot program more formalized and to the point of having a customized working model specific to our vision and program. The goal is to create a formal White Paper and introduction video that can be presented to any other educational institute and/or corporation across the country and beyond who will need to see some type of standardized and written curriculum to go along with our creative products and innovative process to bring them to life and market in the fashion that we prefer!

Not too shabby if I don't say so myself as an 11th grade dropout who has spent the last 17 years and 7 months trying to solve everyday problems through creative inventions to begin with which led to the biggest product of them all which is the actual process to process such ideas in a fashion that solves much bigger problems in 'OUR' community like poverty which comes from a lack of positive activities and opportunities for 'OUR' youth as well as a lack of well-paying and meaningful JOBS, JOBS, JOBS for the greater community at-large.

I'll end this particularly good chapter in our future documentary and book by saying what I always say, which is that there are no guarantees in anything that we are trying to do, BUT no one in their right mind can dispute that the type of validation and now help that is clearly on the way has to increase our odds of success exponentially. And that's ALL that we could ever hope for in our ultimate journey to change the current pathway that great ideas are brought to market in the youth-led and community-based fashion that we prefer across America and beyond:) J

And so it begins, all over again: With Week 1 of Year 6 in the books, part of me would say that it feels like deja vu all over again, while the other part says there's been nothing like the beginning of this movie (or movement) seen yet! I say that because the normal Week 1 walk through of who we are, what we are doing, and most importantly, WHY we are doing this is very similar to years past. The difference this time around is that we've never started a year off with so many new opportunities and connections in place that have all the potential in the world to make this our ultimate breakout year.

Like always, we started with a brief history lesson for the newbies to show how all of this began in January of 2009 when yours truly and Founder of this crazy Dream heard a story of a diver off of our coast that was struck by a passing boat causing the partial amputation of both legs that can be seen in our pinned FB post. From there, Mr. Tygesson and I made the point that that one story and one prototype made to solve a problem for divers being seen better by passing boaters, led to everything else that has followed over the past 17 years since.

And like years past, I always breakout one of my favorite eco-friendly prototypes in the bag to show what other problem-solving ideas that first story and first idea led to which always gets a huge approval from the vast majority of Marine Oceanographic Academy (MOA) prep students that Mr. Tygesson recruits to join our pilot after-school program.

From there, we went straight into the rhyme and reasoning for wanting to process such problem-solving ideas in a fashion that solves much bigger issues within communities in our own backyard and around the world that struggle with crime and poverty related issues. We do our best to make the case that poverty as a whole stems from many factors which include a lack of positive activities and opportunities for our youth, and much needed JOBS for the greater community at-large which we wholeheartedly believe that we can provide some help with on both fronts once the gears and wheels within our very own "Dream Factory" are fully turning.

Once we laid down the initial tracks necessary to know about a pipeline of products that we want to process in a youth-led and community-based fashion that we've been beta testing over the last 5 years at Forest Grove Middle School, we explained how the early proof of such concepts have been enough to earn the interest and approval of major leaders and youth-led organizations across the Treasure Coast and far beyond who want us to duplicate our template within their programs and schools as well!

As the pictures below will show, there's no better example to show just how big this opportunity is for us than breaking the imminent and formal news that will be coming in just days that we will be transforming our current pilot program for Young Inventors and Entrepreneurs into our very own vision and collaboration with St. Lucie County 4-H! Thanks to the help and open-mindedness of SLC 4-H Director, John Ferguson, our hard work, persistence, and pipeline of truly great ideas will soon be operated under the umbrella of our very own 4-H Chartered SPIN (SPecial INterest) Club that will of course be powered by our newly minted non-profit arm of The American Dream Factory Inc.!!!

The formation of the Young Inventors and Entrepreneurs 4-H SPIN Club will not only give us full standing and total access to everything that the largest youth-led organization in the country has to offer, it clearly puts us in a position to showcase our program to over 6 million youth who participate in 4-H Clubs around the world who are all part of National and International 4-H Clubs "Beyond Ready" workforce readiness campaign and initiative to "build a ready generation in a world of change" seen here (https://4-h.org/beyond-ready/)!!! This fantastic news coupled with other imminent news of our expansion into Treasure Coast High School's lineup of after-school Clubs is only further evidence that we are doing something right and important after all of these years!

We ended the first week's presentation by bringing the story behind our history and future opportunities within our reach back to today's work and next steps ahead as we prepare for participation in next month's International Cleanup Day with our newfound "Eco-Friends" out of Cameroon Africa and other "Eco-Heroes" from We Save The World in California which came to us through our new Banking and Credit Union membership with Marine-ELGA Credit Union which is a story of opportunities to make a major impact together within itself!

Add that to another huge opportunity to leave our mark and legacy within our local community that will be seen for generations to come who visit the Fort Pierce Manatee Center which will soon display up to 7 life sized Manatees and an 8ft Mangrove tree that our Champion Teacher Brian Tygesson has been asked to have our students submit their own ideas and plans on how to develop, sculpt, and 3D print portions of each figure as part of their upcoming renovations:))) As alluded to in recent posts, we even have the chance to design and sell any number of 3D printed keychains and other handmade manatee themed trinkets at their tourist gift shop. And if that's not cool enough, we also have the amazing opportunity to submit plans to place and sell our very own custom designed Manatee coffee bags and blend of coffee that of course will be sold under the umbrella and Brand of The American Dream Cafe!!!

Needless to say, that's a lot of ground to cover for a group of normal middle schoolers, but these aren't your normal kids, and this isn't your normal after-school program as you might be able to tell by now. So, buckle up and get ready for what is clearly shaping up to be an incredible new year of growth and opportunity and stay tuned for even more and extra amazing good news that we will be breaking soon as we are about to get HELP and STRUCTURE we desperately need for such ideas and expansion already in-motion from one of the most prominent Engineering Professors and K-12 Curriculum designers within the University of Florida who is personally offering help and crazy good connections based on her own ability to see ALL of the promise that can come from what 17 plus years of problem-solving thoughts and ideas have to offer students and communities across America (and beyond:) J