When asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton famously replied: "That's where the money is." Which brings us to community colleges...

As regular readers of this blog are surely aware, fully half of all pregnancies in the United States are unplanned. Among single women in their 20s the rate is even higher--fully seven in 10 pregnancies among single 20-somethings are unplanned. Moreover, the rates of teen pregnancy and childbearing are highest among older teens (those age 18-19).

Take the high rate of unplanned pregnancy among young adults and consider this: there are about 11.5 million students in community colleges, representing nearly half (46%) of all undergraduate students in America.

Starting to get the Willie Sutton drift?

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I'm a a sucker for underdog stories. I've seen Rocky a million times, wept openly at the end of Rudy, and will argue that Daniel Larusso versus Johnny and the Cobra Kai Dojo is the David and Goliath story for the modern era. Feel free to disagree, but you better make a strong case to beat the Karate Kid as the greatest underdog story in film.

Anyway, I like underdogs. So when I heard the true-life story of Roxanne Shante earlier this week, I was pretty impressed by her perseverance. Back in 1984, then 14-year-old Roxanne had a hit song, "Roxanne's Revenge." The single was a hit, selling more than a quarter million copies in New York City alone, and it led to a recording contract with Warner Music. Like so many other young hip-hop artists of that era, she found out that the big record labels weren't so great after all. After two albums, she realized that her label was basically stealing from her and called it quits.

Roxanne ended up a teenage mother living in the projects in Queens. About to be homeless, she remembered a clause in her record contract that promised to pay for all her schooling - for life. And that's exactly what she forced Warner to do, allowing her to get her Ph.D. in psychology from Cornell University.

Even though it still feels like we're smack in the middle of summer, lots of teens and 20-somethings are gearing up to head back to school in a few short weeks. Whether it's another year of high school, the first college experience, or the last year of formal schooling, we're hoping that students anticipating the excitement of new friends and new experiences will add one more thing to the list: doing whatever it takes not to let an unplanned pregnancy sideline their education.

On August 7, in 12 cities nationwide, radio personality Tom Joyner will launch his annual Back2School events to rally support for education -- especially for Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Now is a good time to consider what Tom Joyner and his 10 million loyal listeners already know: that parenthood is not only one of the main reasons teen girls drop out of school, unplanned pregnancy can also be one of the fastest ways to derail your college plans. The fact is that eight in ten 20-somethings agree that pregnancy is something that should be planned.

So tell us about your plans for the future at sexreally.com. Go to a Back2School event in your community, check out Tom Joyner's Virtual College Fair, and learn more about his efforts here.

Back2School events will be held in the following places:

1. Cleveland, OH

2. Columbia, SC

3. New Haven, CT

4. Nashville, TN

5. Philadelphia, PA

6. Dallas, TX (Event is on Aug. 6th)

7. Indianapolis, IN

8. Greenville, SC

9. Buffalo, NY

10. Chicago, IL

11. Milwaukee, WI

12. Newton, NC

On July 23rd, I had the opportunity to attend an historic event: a press conference at which people with very different views about abortion worked together rather than against each other. The occasion was the introduction of the Preventing Unintended Pregnancies, Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act authored by two bold leaders, Representatives Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Tim Ryan (D-OH) - one pro-choice and one pro-life. As Amy Sullivan of TIME put it, "The volume in the abortion debate has been stuck at rancorous screaming for so long that when it gets turned down, it's disorienting, like walking outside after a rock concert and trying to hear again."

As an organization dedicated to reducing teen and unplanned pregnancy, and with respect for deeply-held views about difficult issues, the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy applauds this bill as a comprehensive, balanced approach to reduce the need for abortion by both helping to prevent unplanned pregnancy in the first place and supporting women and families once pregnancy occurs.

Community colleges are known to some as the red-headed step-child of higher education. NBC is even playing the association to its advantage with its new series coming this fall, Community. But the fact is that community colleges have played a critical role in the U.S., serving 11.5 million students and almost half of all undergrads across the country.

Although community colleges are seeing an increase in student enrollment, that doesn't necessarily mean there's an increase in the graduation rate. As David Brooks notes in his recent op-ed, No Size Fits All, about half of community college students fail to earn a degree. Recognizing the important role that student services play in students' success, last week President Obama announced the American Graduation Initiative, which gives schools the funding they need to offer their students "wrap-around services."

There's a new show premiering this week on MTV that is a must-watch for anyone who cares about teen pregnancy or teens in general. "16 and Pregnant" is a 6-part series done in documentary style with one story per episode. It features 6 teen girls, all from different places, backgrounds and circumstances. MTV followed them through their pregnancies and in the time after they gave birth and captured the angst, drama, gossip, worry, heartache, excitement, confusion, pain, love, hope and helplessness that comes with being pregnant as teenager. It is riveting to watch and impossible to forget.

The first episode, which airs Thursday at 10p ET/PT, tells the story of Maci - an over-achiever from Chattanooga, Tennessee who is in the glorious throes of her first love when she finds out she's pregnant. I don't want to give anything away, but suffice it to say there's a big reality check in store for her. And her boyfriend. And anyone else who thinks having a baby at 16 is going to be like a fairy tale.

Not only are we big fans of the show, but we're also involved behind the scenes. We're preparing discussion guides to go along with each episode so that teens and parents and other adults have a place to start when they want to talk about what they're watching. Once the initial on-air run is complete, we'll also be distributing DVDs of the show to groups, classrooms and programs who need compelling content on this important topic to share with teens.

Check out the discussion guides and FAQ at http://www.stayteen.org/tuned/16-and-pregnant/ and don't forget to set your DVRs accordingly.

Vision, a blog which provides "In-depth coverage of current social issues," certainly stayed true to that description in its exploration of the topic of teen pregnancy in the Spring 2009 Issue. Vision interviewed the National Campaign's Chief Program Officer, Bill Albert, to produce "Teens, Parents, and Teen Parents" and also published two other pieces relating to the topic: "Stork Realities," whose punny name speaks for itself; and "Teen Pregnancy: The Tangled Web," a thoughtful look at the complexities of teen pregnancy in the United States and throughout the world.

With the powerful statistics that accompany the issue of adolescent pregnancy and childbearing in our society, it's easy to get lost in numbers rather than focus on the individuals who are affected by this problem. Bill notes in his interview, "We're often very good at issuing reports. We're not very good at telling stories." To better understand and clearly represent an issue as complex as teen pregnancy it is necessary to see stories and individual experiences as complementary to statistics and reports. Indeed, more stories of teens' experiences with pregnancy and parenting might be just what other teens need to hear to fully comprehend the weight their sexual decisions can have on their present and future realities.

A new website---Opposing Views---launched today with some fanfare.  The site bills itself as "real experts going head-to-head on issues you care about."  Well, I'm not sure anyone is interested in the tired old debate about abstinence education... but, if you simply can't get enough on this topic see what the National Campaign had to say here.