Finding problems associated with poverty during this national recession isn't difficult.

On Saturday, state officials visited 25 localities around the commonwealth seeking a much rarer commodity: solutions to those problems.

They found 50 at Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke, where individuals and representatives from local government and nonprofit agencies stepped up to give two-minute spiels on their ideas.

The suggestions -- which ranged from streamlining the welfare application process to reinstating the 36 percent annual interest rate cap on payday and car title loans -- will be compiled by the Virginia Poverty Reduction Taskforce into a report that will be delivered to Gov. Tim Kaine and the two major-party candidates for governor. Kaine will subsequently make recommendations to the Virginia General Assembly, probably by this fall.

Many of the suggested poverty solutions involve more state funding, which will likely be a tough sell during a time when lawmakers have been faced with cutting programs and services because of shrinking revenues.

Celia Hayhoe, who represents the Virginia Cooperative Extension on the poverty task force, acknowledged the challenge but said it's still an "opportune time in our economic history to get people to listen."

"For the first time, people who never thought about poverty are having to deal with it right now," Hayhoe said.

Virginia's poverty rate is listed as 9.9 percent, but that figure is from 2007 and almost certainly out of date, according to Erik Beecroft, director of the Virginia Department of Social Services' office of research.

Based on more recent statistics -- such as a 23 percent increase over the past 20 months in the number of state residents receiving food stamps -- the state poverty rate is "undoubtedly higher now," Beecroft said.

Rates vary greatly in different regions, too. A video presentation that preceded the discussion at Virginia Western showed the state's highest poverty rates tend to be found in Southside and Southwest Virginia, with pockets in urban areas as well.

"Poverty looks different across the state," Kaine said in another video shown to the summit's attendees. As a result, he said, it's important to get ideas from different regions, each of which face different challenges and circumstances.

Though a couple of individuals mentioned their own bouts with life below the poverty line, most focused exclusively on potential solutions. Roughly half of the speakers work with Total Action Against Poverty, while others came from Goodwill Industries, Southwestern Virginia Second Harvest Food Bank, United Way and U.S. Kids Care.

TAP President Ted Edlich called for universal health care and better regional cooperation.

Correlli Rasheed, who also works with TAP, said that public transportation should be expanded and that rights to felons should be more quickly restored once they leave prison.

Jo Nelson, who helps with TAP's work force-development program, said that welfare requirements should be changed to allow recipients to spend more time job-hunting.

Clay Stein, with Goodwill Industries, asked that lawmakers create more incentives to hire people with barriers to employment, including disabilities and lack of skills and experience. He also said that schools should provide better vocational training for students who may not go to college.

Moona Cancino, who was not representing an organization, said Virginia should adopt "green initiatives for poor people," including the ability to use food stamps at local farmers markets.

Hayhoe said she heard some new ideas, along with a lot that have been previously discussed. She said the process is a good start toward thinking differently about solutions to poverty, but she also advised against expecting changes to come quickly.

"Unfortunately, the voice of poverty in the legislature is very small," Hayhoe said. "People don't have the money to give to political campaigns, so they get their money from business that's not always consumer-friendly. That's the voice that they hear.

"This is the first step in getting them to hear a voice that a lot of times they don't hear."