First Impressions, Routt County United Way and Bud Werner Memorial Library present a film and discussion about the importance of early childhood education.

FREE dinner and child care beginning at 5:30 p.m. The screening starts at 6 p.m.

Attendees are requested to please RSVP to Stephanie Martin at 970.870.5270 or smartin@co.routt.co.us to ensure adequate food and child care.

A facilitated discussion will follow the screening to explore how you can be part of the solution for early childhood education in our communities.

No Small Matter is a film built from stories of real children, families and teachers, illustrating the impact of high-quality early childhood experiences. Meet parents who are struggling to do their best for their kids, incredible teachers who model what early childhood classrooms should and could be like, and children learning and developing in real time. These positive, hopeful stories serve as motivational tools in both the film and the No Small Matter campaign: Change is necessary, critical and attainable if we put our minds to it.

The film is also firmly grounded in science, opening up the “black box” of what’s happening inside children’s brains with exciting, stimulating animation and the voices of compelling scientists, physicians and early childhood education experts. Drawing on the work of economists such as James Heckman, and the latest research in brain imaging and child development, we break down complicated scientific details into layman’s terms, demystifying prevailing ideas that hinder our thinking about children’s behavior, and paving the way for us all to see what children truly need to thrive. When it comes to understanding the incredible dynamism of how a child’s mind develops, seeing is believing, and these illustrations drive home the critical nature of these early years.

No Small Matter is unique in the way it dives deep into the complicated science, history, and sociology that has brought our early care and education system to where it is today, but does so without sacrificing entertainment or emotional impact.