In August 2023, the City of Minden was awarded a Strategic Planning Grant by the Delta Regional Authority (DRA). The purpose of this program is to provide resources to communities to create strategic plans to address critical and human infrastructure issues in their communities. The city has partnered with Atlas Community Studios to develop a Strategic Economic Development Plan that will:

• Assess public infrastructure (including water and sewer capacities, transportation, and broadband accessibility) to ensure the city can offer its residents high quality, essential services.
• Evaluate the local labor market and create strategies to strengthen the workforce development ecosystem to meet the needs of job seekers and existing industry.
• Understand and meet the needs of small businesses and entrepreneurs so that they can grow and thrive locally and fully participate in the global economy.
• Leverage existing assets to develop new or enhanced cultural and recreational amenities to improve quality of place for residents and expand tourism opportunities.
• Develop sustainable, multi-sectoral partnerships with public, private, philanthropic and community organizations to advance local economic development projects and placemaking initiatives, especially to incentivize long-term investment and strengthen community resiliency.