Presnted by SOE PhD student Norbert Negrea. California’s youth in foster care are disproportionately youth of color, subject to higher levels of housing instability and academic disruption. In the Inland Empire, Riverside County’s public school district is facing issues of equity regarding expulsions between their students in and not in foster care. Riverside County’s youth in foster care are being expelled from public schools at double the rate of the state. This talk focuses on the results of a qualitative investigation of current literature in the following three domains: the Inland Empire region, education as a social determinant of health and youth in foster care’s experiences. The aim is to provide valuable equity-oriented recommendations to decrease Riverside’s elevated expulsion rates, with discussion focusing on the areas of practice, policy, politics and research.