Great piece, really interesting. Unrelated to your main point, the Orthodox Union which is probably the largest flagship org of American Orthodox Judaism has a very large annual fair dedicated to showcasing these communities https://www.ou.org/fair/. On a grassroots level, the communities themselves invest a lot of money and put up signifigant financial incentives trying to get others to move which they present at the fair (ie free tuition, rent & mortgage assistance, Jewish dating app subscriptions ofc, etc).
Thanks for writing this. It's always interesting to see how outsiders see our city. The city government gets along with Kaiser because of a lot of interlocking relationships. The current mayor was once GKFF's Washington lobbyist. This analysis of Kaiser's influence, written four years ago from a left-of-center perspective, will add some context to what you saw. https://michaelpaulmason.medium.com/the-kaiser-system-e8c14bca395
One of Tulsa's biggest challenges is national perception. Many across the country have a comically caricaturized idea of what a city in Oklahoma is like, while others may be a bit more accurate, their thinking might be outdated by multiple decades. I believe this is the underlying central bet that programs like this and Tulsa Remote are banking on. There are likely huge numbers of relatively successful and educated people currently struggling in high cost of living cities, when they might otherwise have the potential to thrive in a city like Tulsa. Just considering that if some of these people were to move to Tulsa, both their lives and the city as a whole would be in a net benefit.
We need to discover significantly more efficient ways of conveying what a city is actually like to live in. Tulsa is not a travel destination and its benefits for living there might not be immediately apparent. In contrast, the idea of living in NYC after a quick vacation is likely much more exciting than the constant struggle it becomes in real life.
This is on point! Born and raised in Oklahoma, and it’s so hard to be here because of my political beliefs, and spiritual/heart beliefs. I have a hippie soul that just wants everyone to love, be compassionate, and respectful to others. It’s not near what people think, regardless of the most recent audio footage from Mccurtain County. There are good people here, and there are a large amount just ignorant. The more diversity we bring n the more that change will occur. That’s what George is trying to do, and that’s why I work for his company. 🙏🏻❤️ to u all
I'm glad you came to visit Tulsa! It is an easy place to live. I do hope these efforts will work out. One concerning thing is that of my Jewish friends growing up. Maybe only two or three out of the ten are still in Tulsa. Most are in the big cities after attending Ivy League schools, so our brain drain is pretty high without the ability to get most of them back.
I think a lot of their efforts are devoted to getting people who grew up in Tulsa to come back, actually. I met quite a few people who fit that description. Maybe you can get your Jewish friends to try the program?
I've tried! It's hard work to get folks here. Ten thousand dollars isn't quite enough to get some people to get back, especially without a similar job market as compared to where they are coming from.
No, that's Tulsa Remote, and it's for any remote worker. Tulsa Tomorrow can be stacked on top of Tulsa Remote, but Tulsa Tomorrow has a much better social component (including job assistance).
I always thought they were similar in the amount of assistance. That is good to know in terms of stacking awards. And the social component is much better. What I was going for is that they are in jobs that can't do remotely. So, getting a job equivalent to working at a massive PE or bank can take time and effort.
There was a massacre of black residents in Tulsa in 1921. Was this brought up on your visit? Did you notice any lasting effects on the city from this event?
I’ll answer this, I would be lying if I said there wasn’t racism that still exist but I’m pretty certain that’s everywhere unfortunately. Again I work for BOK financial and looove what Kaiser stands for. We are very diverse and welcome all walks of life. Outside of that Tulsa is still a city small but it’s a city. U really don’t see a lot of the ignorance in Tulsa, however it’s surrounded by small county towns the smaller the town the more u probably will notice. I think some people think we still roll around n horse covered wagons. That’s not the case! Lol there are people here who are progressive and people here who fight for diversity and progression. Tulsa city u wouldn’t see any discrimination unless they bring in the last presidential individual to town, but he was here about a month ago and I did not even know. Meaning the rednecks stayed home thank goodness. As Trevor said downtown has just built the Bob Dylan Center, The Gathering place was just named #1 best park in the US. It’s thriving in that area. I will give this piece of advice if ur looking at areas to live stick with midtown. My neighborhood i wouldn’t think twice if I saw someone green on my street. Lol i welcome diversity openly and very loudly.
Currently there is a sizeable undersupply of quality software development talent. Most opportunities in Tulsa aren't going to be high-profile per-se, but there is still very strong demand.
I had a zoom call with them today. They said that you were lying about the garaunteed job and VC investment thing, so... do you know why they might have said that? Because either we talked to the wrong person, or your account of this trip is wildly inaccurate. And I would really like it if it was the 1st one of those possibilties, because I quite wanted that job and my wife quite wanted that VC funding.
I love this article! I work for BOK Financial and I’m all about diversity in this place they call a Bible Belt. My sig other lived with me a bit but now is back on the West coast where I’d love to b but it’s so expensive. However, I did send this to my bf Nathan (who is Jewish). It’s not Hollywood here and trust me I wanna b n Cali, but Nathan is very talented and smart. He could do very well, and then we might could afford a house n Cali. If he ever were to want to marry me I would covert. I’m trying to learn more bc I’m ignorant to the Jewish faith and culture from growing up not even in Tulsa but the heart of republican small town Oklahoma. I was actually a minority n my town being Catholic which I don’t practice anymore anyway. So pray that my love gives me his last name one day and we can live and love free.
Chabbad wouldn't consider you a "bastard." They just only recognize matrilineal descent. This translates to dad Jewish but not mom= 0% Jewish, mom Jewish but not dad = 100% Jewish. So they'd take a harder line tack on the guy dating a non-Jewish woman than a a Jewish woman dating a non-Jewish guy.
I'm originally from an area with similar weather in that regard, and generally I'd say the important thing is that tornadoes are very small in size. A damaging tornado will hit a given place about once every few hundred years, even in the most storm-prone area of the nation... this is a much smaller risk than that of hurricanes farther south. With storms the big thing to watch for is that it's basically an annual event that there's a storm with gusts into the 70s and hail that can dent cars left outside, and there's generally only a few hours of warning at most (though the forecast will usually say which days are most likely to produce this a couple of days in advance). And when it rains it pours, especially if you're used to the West Coast... usually the only reaction to heavy rain will be to carry an umbrella, and the strongest storms warrant little more than staying indoors, because we're used to it.
One of the big things is, as Trevor said, 100-degree days in the summer are very common, and it's usually more humid than you'd be used to in the West (but not often as much as Florida). Also, snow and ice events happen a couple of times per year, and the area doesn't clear roads much at all, so 3 inches of snow is enough to cancel school for a day or two. For both thunderstorms and ice I'd recommend some backup power source if you can afford it.
Lifelong Tulsan here, I have had far more trouble from ice than from tornados. The only one I've even seen was tuny and not on the ground, 30+ years ago.
Great piece, really interesting. Unrelated to your main point, the Orthodox Union which is probably the largest flagship org of American Orthodox Judaism has a very large annual fair dedicated to showcasing these communities https://www.ou.org/fair/. On a grassroots level, the communities themselves invest a lot of money and put up signifigant financial incentives trying to get others to move which they present at the fair (ie free tuition, rent & mortgage assistance, Jewish dating app subscriptions ofc, etc).
Thanks for writing this. It's always interesting to see how outsiders see our city. The city government gets along with Kaiser because of a lot of interlocking relationships. The current mayor was once GKFF's Washington lobbyist. This analysis of Kaiser's influence, written four years ago from a left-of-center perspective, will add some context to what you saw. https://michaelpaulmason.medium.com/the-kaiser-system-e8c14bca395
One of Tulsa's biggest challenges is national perception. Many across the country have a comically caricaturized idea of what a city in Oklahoma is like, while others may be a bit more accurate, their thinking might be outdated by multiple decades. I believe this is the underlying central bet that programs like this and Tulsa Remote are banking on. There are likely huge numbers of relatively successful and educated people currently struggling in high cost of living cities, when they might otherwise have the potential to thrive in a city like Tulsa. Just considering that if some of these people were to move to Tulsa, both their lives and the city as a whole would be in a net benefit.
We need to discover significantly more efficient ways of conveying what a city is actually like to live in. Tulsa is not a travel destination and its benefits for living there might not be immediately apparent. In contrast, the idea of living in NYC after a quick vacation is likely much more exciting than the constant struggle it becomes in real life.
This is on point! Born and raised in Oklahoma, and it’s so hard to be here because of my political beliefs, and spiritual/heart beliefs. I have a hippie soul that just wants everyone to love, be compassionate, and respectful to others. It’s not near what people think, regardless of the most recent audio footage from Mccurtain County. There are good people here, and there are a large amount just ignorant. The more diversity we bring n the more that change will occur. That’s what George is trying to do, and that’s why I work for his company. 🙏🏻❤️ to u all
I'm glad you came to visit Tulsa! It is an easy place to live. I do hope these efforts will work out. One concerning thing is that of my Jewish friends growing up. Maybe only two or three out of the ten are still in Tulsa. Most are in the big cities after attending Ivy League schools, so our brain drain is pretty high without the ability to get most of them back.
I think a lot of their efforts are devoted to getting people who grew up in Tulsa to come back, actually. I met quite a few people who fit that description. Maybe you can get your Jewish friends to try the program?
I've tried! It's hard work to get folks here. Ten thousand dollars isn't quite enough to get some people to get back, especially without a similar job market as compared to where they are coming from.
No, that's Tulsa Remote, and it's for any remote worker. Tulsa Tomorrow can be stacked on top of Tulsa Remote, but Tulsa Tomorrow has a much better social component (including job assistance).
I always thought they were similar in the amount of assistance. That is good to know in terms of stacking awards. And the social component is much better. What I was going for is that they are in jobs that can't do remotely. So, getting a job equivalent to working at a massive PE or bank can take time and effort.
There was a massacre of black residents in Tulsa in 1921. Was this brought up on your visit? Did you notice any lasting effects on the city from this event?
I’ll answer this, I would be lying if I said there wasn’t racism that still exist but I’m pretty certain that’s everywhere unfortunately. Again I work for BOK financial and looove what Kaiser stands for. We are very diverse and welcome all walks of life. Outside of that Tulsa is still a city small but it’s a city. U really don’t see a lot of the ignorance in Tulsa, however it’s surrounded by small county towns the smaller the town the more u probably will notice. I think some people think we still roll around n horse covered wagons. That’s not the case! Lol there are people here who are progressive and people here who fight for diversity and progression. Tulsa city u wouldn’t see any discrimination unless they bring in the last presidential individual to town, but he was here about a month ago and I did not even know. Meaning the rednecks stayed home thank goodness. As Trevor said downtown has just built the Bob Dylan Center, The Gathering place was just named #1 best park in the US. It’s thriving in that area. I will give this piece of advice if ur looking at areas to live stick with midtown. My neighborhood i wouldn’t think twice if I saw someone green on my street. Lol i welcome diversity openly and very loudly.
Do you think there are programming job's their?
Yes, although not FAANG jobs, as far as I know.
as part of the non profit's or serperatly in the city. I am graduating next year and I'm worried about my job prospects.
Talk to the Tulsa Tomorrow people and they can help you out: https://www.tulsatomorrow.com/ .
Currently there is a sizeable undersupply of quality software development talent. Most opportunities in Tulsa aren't going to be high-profile per-se, but there is still very strong demand.
I had a zoom call with them today. They said that you were lying about the garaunteed job and VC investment thing, so... do you know why they might have said that? Because either we talked to the wrong person, or your account of this trip is wildly inaccurate. And I would really like it if it was the 1st one of those possibilties, because I quite wanted that job and my wife quite wanted that VC funding.
I love this article! I work for BOK Financial and I’m all about diversity in this place they call a Bible Belt. My sig other lived with me a bit but now is back on the West coast where I’d love to b but it’s so expensive. However, I did send this to my bf Nathan (who is Jewish). It’s not Hollywood here and trust me I wanna b n Cali, but Nathan is very talented and smart. He could do very well, and then we might could afford a house n Cali. If he ever were to want to marry me I would covert. I’m trying to learn more bc I’m ignorant to the Jewish faith and culture from growing up not even in Tulsa but the heart of republican small town Oklahoma. I was actually a minority n my town being Catholic which I don’t practice anymore anyway. So pray that my love gives me his last name one day and we can live and love free.
Chabbad wouldn't consider you a "bastard." They just only recognize matrilineal descent. This translates to dad Jewish but not mom= 0% Jewish, mom Jewish but not dad = 100% Jewish. So they'd take a harder line tack on the guy dating a non-Jewish woman than a a Jewish woman dating a non-Jewish guy.
I saw the Tulsa stray at a gas station. It was disconcerting.
Hi Trevor,
Interested to know more about this programme. Can I get in touch with you directly for questions please?
Adam
Sure, email me at trevor (at) highwaypharm.com
what's the tornado situation like in Tulsa?
Reports are that it's not that big a deal. The biggest issue weather-wise is that summers can apparently get brutally hot.
I'm originally from an area with similar weather in that regard, and generally I'd say the important thing is that tornadoes are very small in size. A damaging tornado will hit a given place about once every few hundred years, even in the most storm-prone area of the nation... this is a much smaller risk than that of hurricanes farther south. With storms the big thing to watch for is that it's basically an annual event that there's a storm with gusts into the 70s and hail that can dent cars left outside, and there's generally only a few hours of warning at most (though the forecast will usually say which days are most likely to produce this a couple of days in advance). And when it rains it pours, especially if you're used to the West Coast... usually the only reaction to heavy rain will be to carry an umbrella, and the strongest storms warrant little more than staying indoors, because we're used to it.
One of the big things is, as Trevor said, 100-degree days in the summer are very common, and it's usually more humid than you'd be used to in the West (but not often as much as Florida). Also, snow and ice events happen a couple of times per year, and the area doesn't clear roads much at all, so 3 inches of snow is enough to cancel school for a day or two. For both thunderstorms and ice I'd recommend some backup power source if you can afford it.
Lifelong Tulsan here, I have had far more trouble from ice than from tornados. The only one I've even seen was tuny and not on the ground, 30+ years ago.