Judith P. Hoyer was the Coordinating Supervisor of Early Childhood Education in Prince George's County, Maryland. Improving the lives of young children was her dream and her life's work. Before she passed away in 1997, Mrs. Hoyer had succeeded in shaping and enhancing the futures of thousands of students. She established innovative curricula and educational approaches. She believed in the value that early childhood providers are responsible in shaping the lives of children, thus calling for collaboration and constant dialogue among those who work with young learners.

In her last years, she established a school-based early childhood and family center at Cool Spring Elementary School in Adelphi, Maryland, offering a full range of services: early childhood education, health, and adult education services, family literacy and programs for infants and toddlers. This center, later named the Judy Hoyer Family Learning Center, operates today as one of Maryland's twenty-four Judy Centers. Her vision has been expanded to twenty-six sites in twenty-one local school systems including Baltimore City, in the form of the Judith P. Hoyer Early Care and Education Enhancement Program signed into law by the Governor on May 20, 2000.