It's Small Business Week in Milwaukee and city leaders say there's work to be done to help small businesses thrive in our area.

A series of workshops, seminars, and networking events are taking place to help empower the city's small business community.

It aims to provide a boost to the Metro-Milwaukee area which rates below average in terms of new start-up activity even though communities elsewhere in Wisconsin rank high when it comes to small business survival. 

"We know that the vast majority of jobs that are being created locally and nationally are jobs that are being created by small businesses, in fact well over half of the jobs in this nation are being created by small businesses," said Mayor Tom Barrett.

The theme of this year's Small Business Week is "start small, dream big."