It’s an interesting way of recruiting young entrepreneurial talent to the city of Tulsa: offer a $10,000 grant in exchange for a one-year commitment. The funds are from a private foundation.
Each $10,000 grant will be distributed over the course of a year to eligible remote workers or entrepreneurs living outside of Tulsa County. Participants will initially be given $2,500 to be put towards relocation expenses, a $500 per month stipend and $1,500 at the end of the 12-month program. The funds for this effort are provided exclusively by GKFF.
“Tulsa is gaining international recognition for the use of modern technology to better serve citizens, and one of the areas where we see great opportunity is as a home for remote workers,” said Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum. “Tulsa Remote works to our competitive advantage as a city: a place with remarkably high quality of life combined with comparatively low cost of living and doing business. We have the infrastructure and community in place for remote workers to thrive.”
The program is a joint effort between the City of Tulsa and George Kaiser Family Foundation, an organization working to tackle the most pressing problems in the Tulsa community. GKFF is funding Tulsa Remote, while the City of Tulsa and other community organizations are lending support.
Kudos to the city of Tulsa for working with a private foundation on this. Based on the description of this program, there seems to be little if any risk to taxpayers. Now let’s see if this works — and if the young talent stays beyond the one-year grant period.
