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Remote Workers Can Get a Cushy Apartment, Free Office Space, and $10K If They Move To Tulsa (nextgov.com)
Tulsa, Oklahoma is offering full-time remote workers in the U.S. free office space, a subsidized furnished apartment, and $10,000 cash if you move there and stay for at least one year. The city wants to attract so-called "digital nomads," who would, presumably, start paying taxes, launch businesses, and otherwise contribute to the economy of wherever they're drawn to. Nextgov reports: Tulsa Remote is one of several revitalization projects in the region funded by the George Kaiser Family Foundation. The Tulsa-based philanthropic organization was started by George B. Kaiser, an oil and banking billionaire who has signed on to Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates' "Giving Pledge," whose wealthy signees promise to give away at least half their fortunes to charity.
The organization has budgeted for 20 new remote workers in the program's first year, says Ken Levit, GKFF's executive director. Applicants must be at least 18, eligible to work in the U.S., already working full-time for an employer based outside the boundaries of Tulsa County, and prepared to move to Tulsa within six months. Applications opened Tuesday at the website TulsaRemote.com; the city hopes to settle the first new residents within the next three months, Levit said.
The organization has budgeted for 20 new remote workers in the program's first year, says Ken Levit, GKFF's executive director. Applicants must be at least 18, eligible to work in the U.S., already working full-time for an employer based outside the boundaries of Tulsa County, and prepared to move to Tulsa within six months. Applications opened Tuesday at the website TulsaRemote.com; the city hopes to settle the first new residents within the next three months, Levit said.
There are few places that I warn people about and Oklahoma is one of them.
First off, about half of Oklahoma's power is generated from burning coal which something they take pride in. However you feel about coal energy, there are health consequences for living downwind from a coal plant. If you are still on board then perhaps you will be interested to know that Oklahoma is deeply Republican, very pro-gun, anti-abortion and anti-science.
However you feel about these topics, I just think people should know what they are signing up for before the find themselves in a situation they may be unhappy with.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Just to help you out since you're foreign to our lands....we refer to ourselves as "Americans".
We don't know WTF a "usian" is or means.
Hope that helps.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Not all tech workers lean left. Where I work here in South Carolina, most (not all) of our programmers and systems staff lean not only right, but far right. But then again so does much of the state.
I think the problem with Oklahoma is fundamental... I mean fundamentalist.
A quick Google of "oklahoma religion in schools" brings somewhat horrifying results.
Oklahoma is a genuine and true heartland of America state. Tulsa is the heart of that heartland. Even if they were offering $100,000 plus all the other benefits to anyone who would bring a startup to the state, I could not in good faith consider bringing my children there.
"The racial diversity in the population of Oklahoma is currently at 72.9% Caucasian, 7.7% two or more races, 7.4% Native North American, 7.3% African American, 2.6% other races, and 2% Asian."
Notice that the demographics specifically show that the vast majority of the state is white as all hell, Native American, because the federal government didn't place enough value on the land in Oklahoma to try and ship the native Americans off of it, a whole bunch of people who are descended from slaves. I'm not going to suggest a black person never voluntarily chose to move to Oklahoma, but Oklahoma was VERY DEFINITELY a Klan state... and like other similar places I've visited, when the American civil war ended, Oklahoma proactively segregated. What this did was horrifying for the entire state population. It made the entire state dumber than before. Stupid begets stupid. And to be fair, Oklahoma may have changed since the 50's, though but there are both white hate and black hate groups across the state. Organized black hate groups happen because ignorant black people organize as a possibly violent herd to respond to perceived threats from ignorant white herds. You know racism and education are horrible when people choose to establish hate groups to combat hate groups.
Then there's Asian... there's 2% Asian and I can't possibly figure out how the hell that happened. There appears to be a small Muslim population... I'd suppose this must be due to some industrial relationship or possibly some effort by the immigration services to foster integration by refugees. There is also Buddhism which suggests that East Asian descendants, possibly rail workers for example settled. There's also a chance there was industrial reasons. And there's Hindu as well, that's not surprising, people from India seem to be willing to settle pretty much anywhere if it provides the opportunity for them to establish a better future for their families.
What's important about all of this is that Oklahoma makes it very clear from the demographics "You're not welcome here... unless you're white, christian, and a fan of both kinds of music."
Oklahoma also seems to have the absolute worst educational statistics in the entire U.S.. They have a low drop out rate which suggests the curriculum is too easy. High school curriculum's are specifically designed to promote a healthy drop-out rate. There's none of this "Participation Trophy" bullshit in high school. Either do your work and discipline yourself or learn how to use a shovel and get a good pair of boots. But it seems that Oklahoma has a very high rate of students staying in school. That means that while the work-place isn't being flooded by children, it also means that the top performers are punished by the bottom achievers.
The standardized testing results for Oklahoma clearly say that people from Oklahoma are systematically made stupid. Maybe it's the water or the air. I would suggest it's misallocation of limited government resources.
Oklahoma is the 40th worst ranking state by average income level. This program to get remote workers sounds great because the average person in Oklahoma doesn't have enough money to pay any real taxes. Most of the state is almost tax exempt on a federal level. A LOT of the state is on welfare... but this is true for much of the U.S. at the moment. Oklahoma has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. Oklahoma is in the worst 10 states for higher educate either undergraduate or graduate. To me this means the state is generally apathetic or that people with education simply do go back