The Chicago STEM Pathways Cooperative was formed with support from the Noyce Foundation and the Chicago Foundation for Women as a year-long, community-based effort to survey out-of-school (OST) time programs and consider the ways in which education institutions, businesses and city services could cooperate to build and support equitable and accessible pathways into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) for Chicago's young people. This project had three goals: 1. Gather and analyze data about Chicago's STEM opportunities in out-of-school time. 2. Bring stakeholders together to discuss what is most important when it comes to creating and supporting youth pathways into STEM. 3. Develop a set of recommendations and an action plan that would enable diverse young people to get, and stay, involved with STEM experiences from kindergarten through college. In support of these goals, a leadership team representing youth development practitioners, youth program intermediaries, STEM education experts, researchers, policy makers and city agencies assembled in January 2012 to guide project strategy and work with stakeholders across the city to shape the overall project priorities. (author abstract)