Community Relations, the Leadership Council's oldest program, worked in a variety of settings to foster leadership supportive of equal housing opportunity. The Community Relations Program engaged in organizing, education and outreach, and advocacy to advance fair housing and encourage diverse and inclusive communities for healthy community and regional well-being.

Accomplishments of the Community Relations Program include:

• Developing a Fair Housing Advocate Training Program that has trained than 190 low- and moderate-income residents in 16 Chicago area communities and Rockford, IL to advocate for fair housing and improved human relations at the local level.
• Strengthening Northwest Cook Leaders, a leadership network working to promote diversity in the northwest suburbs through activities that include fair housing education, advocacy on behalf of immigrants, and organizing of an annual Diversity Walk.
• Working with the Chicago CRA Coalition to organize a suburban forum on the Community Reinvestment Act and opportunities to foster community development in Chicago suburbs by partnering with banks and community lenders.
• Partnering with the Interfaith Leadership Project to advocate for a complete reform of code enforcement practices in the City of Berwyn and staging forums for elected officials on code enforcement and fair housing.
• Helping the New Alliances Task Force, an initiative of the FDIC and the Mexican Consulate, to develop new initiatives for expanding immigrants' access to banking and lending products and services.

The Relations program also looked to develop leadership in support of community diversity, expand the Fair Housing Advocate Training Program, and engage in community building efforts in neighborhoods impacted by the CHA Plan for Transformation in the city of Chicago and surrounding communities.