Olivia C. Banks (1927–2024) was a respected administrator, social services pioneer, and civic leader from Addisleigh Park whose work spanned school systems, government agencies, hospitals, and community organizations at the local and national levels. She was best known for the roughly ten-year period during which she founded and led New Yorkers for Inclusive Educational Curricula, organizing monthly bus trips to Albany to lobby for a more diverse and inclusive educational system. She was a lifelong member of the NAACP and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

Born in Madisonville, Kentucky, to Isaiah H. Brown, a minister, and Ollie (Hobson) Brown, a homemaker and opera singer, she was the third of their six children. Banks graduated from Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C., in 1945 and earned her bachelor’s at Howard University. While there, she met her first husband, John David Coleman, an international student from Liberia and the grandson of Liberia’s thirteenth president, William David Coleman. Olivia and John married on July 24, 1953, in Arlington, Virginia, and later returned to Liberia, where John worked as Acting Secretary of Public Works and Utilities. The couple had two children, Mulbah David and John DowDow. In 1955, John and his father, the former Minister of the Interior Samuel David Coleman, were killed by government security forces under President William V.S. Tubman after accusations of a failed coup.

Following her husband’s death, Olivia returned to the United States with her sons, settling in Addisleigh Park in 1958. She earned a master's degree in social work from New York University. In 1959, she married Hugh C. Banks, a psychologist and professor at NYU. In 1969, Hugh was appointed assistant chancellor, the first African American to become one of NYU's general officers.

Over her career, Olivia led with distinction in a myriad of social services roles, including Administrative Supervisor at Interfaith Medical Center, Associate Director at Pilgrim State Psychiatric Center, Director of Social Services at Community Service Society, and Social Service Director within the Manhasset School System. In addition, she founded the Nassau County School Social Work Association and assisted Queens Child Guidance in opening its first South Jamaica clinic as District Clinical Administrator.

She was civically engaged throughout her life, serving on Mayor John Lindsay's Task Force for Community Residence and Rehabilitation, on the Queens Borough President's Summit on Racial and Religious Harmony, and on the executive board of the advisory committee for Queens General Hospital. She also worked as a consultant to the Supreme Court of Queens and as a part-time consultant to the NYC Chancellor’s office of Parent Advocacy and Engagement.

Her community work was wide-ranging. As Vice President of Addisleigh Park Civic Association, she instituted the "Adopt a School" relationship between neighborhood schools and the association. She was a member of the youth committee of Community Planning Board 12, and for ten years she held various positions on Community School Board 29, including President, and First and Second Vice President.

Her leadership extended to faith-based initiatives as well. She was a member of the Joint Board of Deacons and Deaconesses at the St. Albans Congregational Church and Acting President of its St. Albans Family Life Center. She also represented her community as a delegate to the President's National White House Conference on Children and Youth in 1960, 1970, and 1980 under Presidents John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and Jimmy Carter, respectively.

On October 19, 2025, a co-naming ceremony was held in Addisleigh Park renaming the corner of 179th Street, between 114th Road and Murdock Avenue, in her honor as Olivia C. Banks Way.