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HANNIBAL, MO. -- The financial cuts that are being felt because of the sequestration in Washington D.C. Is being felt all across the United States and right here in the Tri State area.

Some of it is being felt by the Douglass Community Center in Hannibal Missouri.

Dave Dexheimer, who is the executive director of the Douglass Community Center and Kathy Newlon, who is the Head Start Center director in Hannibal, know they're going to to have to come up with some creative ways to cut several hundred thousand dollars from the Head Start budget. The cuts are due to the sequestration that federal lawmakers are dealing with right now.

"We're in eight counties, 12 centers in eight counties, so we have to look at the whole picture and see where can we make adjustments to make up that $235,000," Dexheimer said.

The Douglas Community Center administers the funds for the Head Start program. Dexheimer said they've already been planning for this and they've instituted a hiring freeze and limited travel. But he wants to assure people that Head Start isn't going away any time soon.

"So many children and families would lost out on so much. Head Start really does work and it really does give our children a jump start before they go to kindergarten. There's proven research that has shown that children who go to Head Start have an advantage once they reach kindergarten with other children," Newlon said.

Dexheimer also wants his parents to know that there aren't going to be any changes made during this school year and that if anything does change it will be made this summer and before the school year starts in the fall of 2013.

The Douglass Head Start program serves 542 children.

It runs with a staff of 140 and has a budget of more than five million dollars.

The counties that are covered by the Douglass Community Center for the Head Start program include; Lewis, Macon, Marion, Monroe, Ralls, Pike, Randolph and Shelby.