Maplewood Dads Receive The First Years Parentpreneur Grant

(JANUARY 18, 2016) ― Recognizing that running or starting a business with kids in tow can throw a lot of unpredictability into life’s journey, The First Years – a leading global juvenile products manufacturer – launched its inaugural Parentpreneur Grant Program in fall 2015. New and expecting parent entrepreneurs from across the United States were invited to apply for a pool of grant funding totaling $50,000. Today, The First Years proudly announces that Maplewood, NJ-based dads Andy Lewisohn and James Nanscawen will receive a total of $5,000 in grant funding for Sitterfied, to help make their dream job a reality.

Lewisohn (dad of 3-year-old Alex and 9-month-old Quinn) and his business partner Nanscawen (dad of 7-year-old Chloe and 6-year-old Ethan) built Sitterfied as an online marketplace that connects parents with trusted, friend-verified babysitters using the parent’s own social connections.

Lewisohn and Nanscawen will use their grant funding for Sitterfied toward redesigning the parent user experience, adding online payments, and increasing the number of “sitter social” events to expand into additional New York City boroughs and towns in Northern New Jersey. sitterfied.com

More than 100 applications for individual grants of up to $10,000 were submitted by innovative parents who are running small businesses founded less than five years ago, and parents with new business concepts. These entrepreneurial pursuits and ideas are being developed and overseen by smart, savvy and creative new parents, all with at least one child under five years old.

“For more than 60 years, The First Years has manufactured juvenile products to help prepare new and expecting parents for the unpredictable journey of parenting, from stopping the food fights during mealtime, to soaking up the fun during bath time and providing tools for successful potty training,” says Lynne Mello, Vice President of Marketing Communications for The First Years. “Our Parentpreneur Grant Program recognizes that running or starting your own business while also caring for little ones takes these daily parenting challenges to a whole new level. We were blown away by the innovation and creativity we saw coming from today’s parent entrepreneurs, and were thrilled by the response we received.”

Each grant program applicant was evaluated by The First Years judging panel based on the strength and validity of their business concept or plan, ability to demonstrate need and specify what grant funding will be used for, and ability to best express why their entity is deserving of funding through the application and related supporting documents.

“For the grant program’s inaugural year, The First Years is proud to award funding to ten deserving businesses, including Sitterfied,” added Mello. “We’re excited to see how our grants will help entrepreneurial parents like Andy Lewisohn and James Nanscawen reach their goals.”

For information about the additional nine businesses from across the country that received funding through The First Years Parentpreneur Grant Program, and to see photos of each of the 10 grant recipients with their families, please visit thefirstyears.com/grants.

Photo caption: (Back row, L to R): Ethan Nanscawen, Alex Lewisohn, Chloe Nanscawen (Front row, L to R): James Nascawen, Elana Nanscawen, Dana Lewisohn, Quinn Lewisohn, Andy Lewisohn

About TOMY International

TOMY International (www.tomy.com) is a leading global designer, producer and marketer of a broad range of innovative, high-quality toys sold to preschoolers, youths and adults under the TOMY® and Ertl® brands as well as products for parents, infants and toddlers marketed under the The First Years®, JJ Cole® Collections and Boon® brands. TOMY International also markets its products under popular licensed properties such as John Deere, Pokémon, Chuggington, Sonic the Hedgehog, Lamaze, Zootopia, Inside Out, Miles from Tomorrowland, The Good Dinosaur, Winnie the Pooh, Princesses, Cars, Fairies and Toy Story, and other well-known properties. TOMY International’s mission is to make the world smile. TOMY International reaches its target consumers through multiple channels of distribution supporting more than 25,000 retail outlets throughout North and South America, Europe and Australia. TOMY International is a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan-based TOMY Company, Ltd. (Tokyo Stock Exchange Code No. 7867). © TOMY