East Oakland-Fruitvale Planning Council, a Nonprofit California Corporation v. Donald Rumsfeld, Director, Office of Economic Opportunity

East Oakland-Fruitvale Planning Council sued the Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief. The district court dismissed the action on the ground that the complaint failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. East Oakland-Fruitvale Planning Council v. Rumsfeld, 310 F.Supp. 546 (N.D.Calif.1970). We vacate the judgment and remand.

I

The factual allegations of the complaint, to be accepted as true for the purposes of the motion to dismiss, are as follows:

The Council is a nonprofit corporation. It received a grant from OEO under section 232 of the Economic Opportunity Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2825 , to conduct a research and pilot program in “advocacy planning.” The goal of the program was to organize community groups in the East Oakland and Fruitvale areas of the City of Oakland, California, into a “single policy-making and priority setting body which directs its attention to the multiplicity of problems and concerns of that community.”

The Council operated successfully during its first year. Evaluations of its program by independent evaluators pursuant to section 233 of the Act, 42 U.S. C. § 2826, were favorable, and…