Gilberto Juarez said he almost lost his son to gangs.

The 54-year-old father of three said he learned of his son's gang activities only after the boy was arrested on robbery charges.

His son was 14 years old.

"He had joined the gang when he was 8 years old," Juarez said. "He was heading in the wrong path."

Juarez's son, now 24, no longer is in a gang. He is married with children, has a steady job and has joined a local baseball team.

On Sunday, while Juarez's son played baseball in another area of Garfield Lake Park, Juarez took his 4-year-old grandson to The Rock the Block Neighborhood Outreach Ministry. The faith-based initiative uses the "block party" concept to build community ties to tackle gangs, drugs and violence, and to listen to the music and see the clowns.

Juarez said he supports any community effort to curb gangs and drugs in Denver.

Angel Barrientos, the organizer, said faith-based groups and churches share an equal responsibility, along with others in the community, to get young people away from drugs and gangs and to provide alternative activities.

"Drugs and violence are affecting negatively the quality of life for the family," he said.

The event was modeled after similar efforts in California cities that forged connections between service agencies, churches, and grass-roots organizations that help at-risk youths.

Sunday's event included Christian rock and hip hop bands, food, and face painting for children. Organizers also provided free haircuts, job search booths and health care literature.

About 150 people attended.

"We want to look at the overall needs of people," Barrientos said.

Regina Huerter, executive director of Denver's Crime Prevention and Control Commission, said the most productive way to address the gang issue is to adopt a comprehensive model that deals with youth issues, including access to education early on, and to giving ex-gang members social and job skills.

"It's faith-based groups, it's parents, it's business owners, it's apartment owners, it's everybody saying enough is enough," she said.

Juarez said he missed all the early warning signs until he learned that his son "was starting to rob people."

"I told him, 'You have to think very carefully if you want to live your life going in and out of jail because that's the kind of life you're going to have if you continue in gangs. That place is not for you, son. That's for people who don't think,' " Juarez said.

Juarez said it wasn't easy, but "I pulled my son away from gangs."

He said he took his son to work painting homes and buildings after he graduated from high school, giving him no free time to be with the wrong crowd.

"I didn't give him a choice. I stuck to him like gum," he said.