In the first year or two after the Oklahoma City bombing of April 19, 1995, many organizations studied the incident in order to glean lessons learned. On reviewing these studies, MIPT determined that they were specialized for particular audiences – firefighters, policymakers, and disaster and relief organizations and agencies. There was no lessons learned study for the non-specialists – the elected officials, funeral directors, school principals and business leaders who form the backbone of every community.

MIPT funded a report, Oklahoma City 7 Years Later: Lessons for Other Communities, to capture the most important points from the experience of some of the thousands of people – professionals and volunteers – who helped the people of Oklahoma City recover from the disaster imposed upon them.

The booklet is highly condensed, offering 32 half-sized pages of bulleted points. However, each copy contains a CD-ROM which offers more detailed accounts of the experiences of many individuals, a study of communication flows before, during, and after the incident, and a book-length study by the American Psychological Association of the mental health response to the Oklahoma City bombing. Oklahoma City 7 Years Later was distributed to governors, city mayors, and emergency officials across the nation.