The Minneapolis school district will join the My Brother's Keeper Success Mentors Initiative.

The program, an initiative of the White House, aims to address chronic absenteeism in public schools.

It connects students who are at risk of becoming chronically absent with mentors.

Minneapolis will be one of 30 cities participating in the program.

The program does not provide schools with additional funding, but provides research-based training to schools.

"We are looking forward to expanding this to additional districts as others ramp up their capacity to take on the work," said Raymonde Charles, the deputy press secretary for the U.S. Department of Education "There will be guidance and virtual trainings offered to any district that is interested in learning more about this model."