Miami Valley Career Technology Youth Connections, an alternative high school located in Dayton, Ohio, has an enrollment of 160 students and was created as a joint venture among local politicians to address the high dropout rates in Montgomery County, Ohio. To achieve this, the Montgomery County commissioners created a task force to develop recommendations for what actions the community should take to serve at-risk youth. The task force decided to develop Youth Connections as a small, personal alternative high school with the flexibility to meet the needs of the students and provide them with career opportunities that lead to long-term employment. Since its opening in August 2000, Youth Connections has served 32 school districts and a very diverse student population. The program serves students who are disconnected from regular schools because of nonattendance, a lack of school credits for their age group, deficiencies in the areas emphasized in the Ohio Proficiency Test, or expulsion for nonviolent reasons. Youth Connections does not accept students who have continually disrupted their regular school environment or have had violent infractions of the school code of conduct. Youth Connections is an example of how a school can provide a quality education to all of its students by ensuring that they are well educated in the academic basics and preparing them to survive in a technological world. Youth Connections is on the cutting edge of the future.