CHICAGO — Democratic Party officials said Monday that they have reached an agreement enlisting Jesse Jackson to help the Clinton-Gore presidential ticket by heading an effort aimed at aggressively recruiting black voters for the fall elections.

The agreement includes a Jackson-led, four-day bus trip to whip up grass-roots black support for the Democratic presidential candidate. However, Jackson emphasized in an interview that he had agreed to work for the party--not directly for its presidential standard-bearers.

Democratic National Chairman Ronald H. Brown "called me two weeks ago and asked if I would work for voter registration with the (Democratic National Committee), and I said yes," Jackson said Monday after the announcement. He said that is different from directly campaigning for the ticket.

Jackson said he endorsed Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton and his running mate, Tennessee Sen. Al Gore Jr., at the Democratic National Convention but has not been formally asked by Clinton to campaign with them.

The party's announcement followed a series of closed-door meetings between Jackson and Brown. The announcement did not mention the bus trip, but Clinton campaign staffers said Jackson will lead a four-day bus caravan from New Orleans to Chicago this month.

Sources close to the talks also said the party promised to provide Jackson with about $1.2 million for the voter registration effort in 12 states with large black voting-age populations. That amount is roughly equivalent to the $1.5 million given to a group of Latino leaders for a similar voter registration drive in 12 states with large Latino populations.

Jackson, whose on-again, off-again relationship with Clinton has played out like a backstage drama, said he talked with Clinton on Monday. He said Clinton thanked him for agreeing to work in the voter registration campaign and promised to meet with him soon to discuss the details of the campaign.

That meeting may come as soon as Wednesday in Atlanta, where Jackson is scheduled to receive an award from the National Baptist Assn. and where Clinton will also address the organization of black ministers.

Bobby Rush, a senior Clinton adviser and head of the campaign's national voter registration drive, said the Jackson-led bus trip "is in the works, and we'll have more details on this no later than Wednesday."

However, Bruce Lindsay, another high-ranking Clinton campaign official, sought to make clear that the party, not the campaign, is handling the bus tour.