Retroactive Insurance

I met Anjoli Cooper in October of 2005 in Oakland, California. After fleeing their home in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, Anjoli and her mother were living at the Jack London Inn in downtown Oakland. Over the next year I worked with Anjoli as part of a project about Katrina evacuees. During this time she moved out of the hotel and was placed in an apartment in Oakland. While there her apartment was broken into three times. Anjoli had lost all of her possessions in New Orleans as a result of Katrina and what little she owned in California—primarily donated items—was stolen during the break-ins. I received a $450 Service-Works Grant to establish a one-client only insurance company. The company provided Anjoli with a retroactive renter's insurance policy to replenish what she lost in the storm and multiple robberies. The retroactive policy also provided her with a year's renter's insurance (issued through a slightly more established insurer).