Overview: Colleen Wallace, a fourth-generation Banning resident and former group home manager, has been honored by the 2026 Palm Springs Black History Committee for her dedication and impact on the community. Wallace became the second Black female mayor in 2020 and is currently the third Black member of the Banning city council. She is working to improve the eastside of Banning by bringing more grocery merchants to the region, securing grants for road pavements and waste management, and bringing cultural celebrations to the city. Wallace is also working with Michelle Burroughs from the Center for Healthy Communities at UCR School of Medicine to make Banning a healthier community.
Thank you for reading this post, don’t forget to subscribe!
Breanna Reeves
Banning City Councilmember Colleen Wallace comes from a long line of history-makers.
Wallace is a fourth-generation Banning resident, with her great-grandparents, Hayward and Emma Cole, being the second Black family to settle in Banning.
Her father, Henry Wallace, was the first Black child to attend elementary school in Banning at Hoffer Elementary. Colleen Wallace can also trace her mother’s family from the Indian reservation in Palm Springs where they lived before they were forcibly removed from the land during the 1950s and 1960s. The family relocated to Banning, where her grandfather, T.C. Clinton built their family home. Her mother still resides there today.
Colleen Wallace has continued her family’s legacy of making history in Banning as she became the second Black female mayor in 2020, and then became the third Black member to be on the Banning city council where she currently holds a position.
Wallace never set out to become a politician. For 30 years, Wallace worked as a Group Home Manager and worked with children seeking treatment for addiction and substance abuse.
“I liked the challenge [of what] I was doing, working with those kids to tell them that there’s a better life for them, they don’t have to be like this. They can break the cycle,” Wallace explained.
Over time, the children she worked with connected with her on Facebook and shared how she changed their lives. Though she has no children of her own, Wallace enjoys working with kids.
Wallace’s introduction to local politics was a fluke. Having moved away from Banning for a few years, Wallace would return to visit her family and she noticed that her side of town was “going down hill and the rest of Banning was looking better than our side.”
After moving back home to Banning due to an injury that resulted in Wallace being disabled, she spoke with her mom and sister about the state of their community and what she could do.
With support and encouragement from her sister, Suzette Wallace, who was on the city’s planning commission, Colleen Wallace took a chance and campaigned to join the city council in 2018. Wallace won 40% of the votes and was elected to the city council for the first time.
From 2020 to 2021, Wallace served as Banning’s mayor pro tem and was re-elected to the city council in 2022. Since joining the city council, Wallace has been working to improve the eastside of Banning for the community. She explained that there were few grocery stores on the eastside of Banning and oftentimes residents have to travel farther for grocery stores due to the city’s limited options. Wallace is fighting to bring more grocery merchants to the region so that older residents can have easier access.
During her time on city council, Wallace has secured grants for the city to aid in improving road pavements and waste management. Wallace also spends time visiting schools and encouraging students or giving seminars.
Wallace is working to bring cultural celebrations to Banning such as the city’s Black History Parade and Cinco de Mayo celebration. In her efforts, she looked to Palm Springs for help.
For her dedication and impact on the community in Banning, Wallace is being honored by the 2026 Palm Springs Black History Committee. Wallace said the honor was “the bomb,” but unexpected because she didn’t realize people were taking notice.
“When I first got into this field, Congressman Raul Ruiz told me, ‘Colleen, you can never change, always be yourself,’ Wallace shared. He told her she’ll go far in politics if she continues to be herself. “And so far, I’ve seen that come into fruition, that I am climbing the ladder and being honored for something.”
While many may not know much about Banning, the city is one of the fastest growing California cities and Wallace is working to improve the city for residents, while also striving to bring more businesses and homeowners to the city.
“We have a lot of cleaning up to do, but I think if we all work together, we can make that happen,” Wallace said.
In the meantime, Wallace is working with Michelle Burroughs, who is the community engagement and outreach director for the Center for Healthy Communities (CHC) at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) School of Medicine (SOM). Burroughs serves as the faculty for community engagement & partnership for the Program in Medical Education (PRIME), which is designed to train physicians specifically to address the healthcare needs of the African, Black, and Caribbean (ABC) communities of Inland Southern California. Together, they hope to invite medical students to Banning town halls to teach residents how to live healthier as an initiative to make Banning a healthier community.
