Related Before Vanessa Hall-Harper won her District 1 City Council position in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2016, she talked extensively with her soon-to-be constituents and learned that food security was one of the most pressing issues for residents in North Tulsa. That’s why she made it a mission to place a moratorium on dollar stores and bring in healthy food options.
“In engaging with my community, the number one issue of concern that I heard was that we don’t have a grocery store in our community where we can go and shop, that all we have are dollar stores,” said Hall-Harper in a recent phone interview. “It’s something that I didn’t suffer from because I happen to have adequate transportation, so I could go anywhere in Tulsa to shop and get what I want. But obviously, there’s a large segment of my constituents that cannot.”