The Tulsa Remote Program paid me 10,000 to move

Here are some of our favorite quotes from the New York Post article featuring MakeMyMovers.

You can read the entire New York Post article here.

“There’s been an exodus of talent and this is a novel approach to bringing it back,” Make My Move co-founder Evan Hock said. “Greensburg, Indiana, is never gonna get an Amazon HQ2, but they can get Amazon talent. And then Amazon is paying taxes in Indiana.”

Traditionally, states have used economic development strategies to woo corporations.

But that can take years to implement, never pay off, or face 11th-hour cancellations like Amazon’s attempt at an HQ2 in Queens.

Remote workers show up and start spending immediately, Hock said.

After living in both New York and Chicago, product designer Jayme Markus enrolled in a Muncie, Indiana’s remote-worker program in August 2022.

In addition to a $5,000 stipend — half up front, half after a year in town — she received perks like a gym membership and access to a coworking space.

She’s one of more than 110 new residents Muncie has welcomed since beginning its program in January 2022.

“I have a whole home for the same price as my one-bedroom apartment in Greenpoint,” said Markus, 35. “Life is just easier.”

Like many in relocation programs, Markus says the move pushed her outside her comfort zone: She joined a Universalist Church choir and volunteers for a voter registration campaign.

She and her husband aren’t sure Muncie will be their forever home but “there’s strong potential for us to put down [permanent] roots,” Markus said.