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CENTRAL NEW YORK – There’s good news for businesses across Central New York. According to the CenterState CEO Economic Forecast, there are many reasons to stay optimistic about the local economy.

The report was presented at a breakfast at the Oncenter in Syracuse Thursday morning.

CenterState expects economic growth this year in part because of the $137 million Central New York got from the state's regional economic development councils. The organization also anticipates significant growth in education and health care.

CenterState officials say even though we're slowly coming out of the recession, there's still a lot of work to do on a local and national level.

"Employment is still not back to record levels. Our unemployment rate still remains at eight percent, which is unacceptably high. We still have challenges to overcome and these are not just challenges here in Central New York, they're challenges for the national economy and for the global economy. But I think that with the partners on the ground here, we've got good strategies and we've seen some measured progress," said Robert Simpson, CenterState CEO President.

The newest report from the Siena College Research Institute also supports the economic optimism in Central New York. It says consumer confidence in Syracuse is up 22 percent from the same time last year.