Barack Obama announced a new initiative on Monday aimed at recruiting volunteers to help Democrats come out on top in the redistricting process that will begin after the 2020 census is complete.

The former president is pairing up with his Eric Holder, his former attorney general, to teach and train local recruits how to be leaders in what they call the fair map movement.

'I've always believed that training is at the heart of organizing,' Obama said in a statement on the group's website.

'The movement for fair maps will determine the course of progress on every issue we care about for the next decade. And we can't wait to begin organizing when the redistricting process starts in 2021. We need to build this movement from the ground up – right now,' he added.

Barack Obama announced a new initiative to help Democrats come out on top in 2021 redistricting process

Redistricting U is part of his work with his former attorney general Eric Holder

Redistricting U is an extension of the All On The Line campaign, which is a combination of Obama's Organizing For Action and Holder's National Redistricting Action Fund.

Holder has made redistricting his central issue since leaving the Justice Department. His group, which Obama supported since its inception, works on the state level to elect local candidates that can influence the map making process along with voting laws.

Redistricting U, which is paid for by Holder's National Redistricting Action Fund, aims to train volunteers to help that goal.

'Gerrymandering is when politicians pick their voters instead of voters picking their elected officials and it impacts communities across the nation. The All On The Line campaign will fight against gerrymandering and push for fair maps in the next round of redistricting,' the group says on its website.

Republicans invested heavily in the 2010 midterms through their Redistricting Majority Process, a group led by former Repub­lican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie and advised by former Bush adviser Karl Rove.

The investment paid off in several down-ballot wins and the GOP used their new found power to tilt House districts their way during the 2011 redistricting process.

'He who controls redistricting can control Congress,' Rove wrote in a March 2010 Wall Street Journal op-ed.

Democrats are working to counter act that in the 2021 map-making process by winning on the local level in next year's election while Republicans formed the National Republican Redistricting Trust, led by former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, to work against Holder's efforts.

And some Democrats, including Holder, are worried the battle for state offices will be lost in a presidential year election, when 20 candidates are fighting for the Democratic nomination.

'I understand people are going to be legitimately focused on the presidential race, as we should be,' Holder told Mother Jones last month. 'But it's going to be my job to make sure we don't lose sight of those other races that are going to be extremely important.'

Barack Obama and Eric Holder teamed up to help Democrats win on the state level

Both Obamas - the former president and Michelle Obama - have pushed for increased public participation in the political process since leaving the White House

Every 10 years, after a census is conducted in the country, House seats are reapportioned based on population and the lines of districts are redrawn to reflect the changing demographics.

There is no standard operating procedure for redistricting as each state determines how it will configure its allocated House seats. Some use the state legislature, others use independent commissions.

Both Obamas - the former president and Michelle Obama - have pushed for increased public and voter participation in the political process since leaving the White House.

Michelle Obama is co-chair of We All Vote - a national effort to increase voter registration numbers around the country.

'Our democracy and the country we love requires our attention, voice, and participation,' she said when the organization was announced. 'When we all vote, we determine our future.'

That group, too, is stacked with Obama administration alumni, including former senior aide Valerie Jarrett and former first lady chief of staff Tina Tchen.