A program offering remote workers $10,000 to move to Tulsa is looking for applicants for its second, much bigger year.
Tulsa Remote got thousands of applications last year and picked 100 people, ranging from a Harlem Globetrotter to a rare-disease researcher. This year, 250 awards are available.
Tulsa Remote Executive Director Aaron Bolzle said bringing people to Tulsa is worth more than the money and other perks they get.
"They are spending their time and money within the community, and they’re spending far more than $10,000 a year within the community and providing needed skillsets and experience and connections," Bolzle said.
Bolzle said what stood out about the first round of Tulsa Remote participants is how involved they got in the community.
"The amount of volunteer hours, the number of individuals that have gotten involved in nonprofits and on boards is just really incredible," Bolzle said.
Business-to-business marketing manager Obum Ukabam is one of the 100 remote workers picked last year and made the move to Tulsa from Riverside, California, in March. Ukabam said he and his wife have been so taken with Tulsa, they’re planning to start their family here.
"Oklahoma’s not on top of the states you think of when it’s time to move somewhere, but now I’m really realizing it should be. You know? It should be," Ukabam said. "We should really open our minds to other places. It doesn’t have to be just California or New York."
Tulsa Remote applicants must be at least 18, eligible to work in the U.S., live outside Oklahoma, have a full-time job with a company based out of state and commit to living in Tulsa at least one year.
Besides $10,000 paid out over 12 months, Tulsa Remote offers participants coworking space at 36 Degrees North.
