As reported in the  DelmarvaNow, Somerset County has opened its first Judy Center, a centralized early childhood education services center for children from birth through kindergarten age.

Karen Karten, coordinator of early childhood education and the county’s Judy Center coordinator, said the center works to create partnerships between the school system and child development and service agencies as Head Start, child and family development programs and health and social services.

“We don’t want to reinvent what is working,” Karten said after the ceremony. “We want to enhance what’s happening in the county and to help coordinate services.”

The Judy Center is named to honor the late Judy Hoyer, wife of Maryland congressman Steny Hoyer and an early childhood educator who promoted a vision of collaboration to integrate early childhood education programs and provide family support services for children before they enter kindergarten.

For more information, read the full story from the DelmarvaNow.